The Death of Santa Claus

Maybe you heard that the US Postal Service is thinking of cutting delivery to 5 days a week in the face of massive deficits.

Most probably don't think about the postal service much. I never did. Until my wife became an employee. Yes, she delivers the mail in those cute little trucks, no uniform though.

Since then, I have to say, I find the postal service so fascinating. It is just amazing that 6 days a week for .43c they can deliver mail almost anywhere in the U.S. It is a massive, tireless, often thankless job--one made possible in a more enlightened age before the Reagan right brainwashed the country, an age when the US realized a little government works and public projects can go a long way. The US Postal service is the 2nd largest employer in th world, in fact. Everyone reading this has a postal worker that services them. Everyone! My representatives and Presidents have down much less for me (and the country).

Also, the postal service is a really crucial economic barometer since so much business is done through it (think ebay, shipping). So, if the post office is thinking of cuts, you know everybody is hurting. This news is way scarier than Frannie and Freddie, or even GM and Ford.

Plus, the Postal Service is Santa Claus. Think about it, who else delivers to every house in one day? With goodies for the good (yeah ebay!) and bills for the bad (just kidding, i have plenty). And in fact, when your little kid writes to Santa, do you know who responds? Your postal carrier (they don't have to but some do). The Postal Service, like Santa, truly is magical.

So, cutting out Wednesday service seems like the death of Santa, if just for one day. Let's hope it doesn't come to it.

And President Obama, where is the bailout for the postal service? They only need a few billion, chump change in comparison. But I guess, that would make us communists. Right, funding the postal service is not allowed because it is socialist. They need to privatize, that was the big argument back a decade ago when the postal service went for profit. This relentless rush to privatize and deregulate everything has left us in this mess. So, lets just keep giving trillions to banks and investors (people who make money off other people's money, not anything tangible) because that is capitalism. The post office, Santa? Fuck those commies!






(((BTW--Dr. Ron Greene, one of this blog's followers, wrote an interesting little article on the post office and Michael Warner. Check it out))))