For every last detail and report on what’s happened so far in the debate check out TPMLivewire.
Iran is not Iceland and other highlights from the Santorum/Paul Iran smackdown.
Remember that back and forth Bachmann and Pawlenty got into about some piece of legislation from back in Minnesota? We pulled the records to figure out who was right. Here’s our report.
Here’s an article from the Post about some draconian measures the US Postal Service is planning to take to work its way out of a deep financial hole, including breaking labor agreements, cutting more than 100,000 jobs and withdrawing from federal health care programs.
But this passage jumped out at me …
During the past four years, the service lost $20 billion, including $8.5 billion in fiscal 2010. Over that period, mail volume dropped by 20 percent.
Those are big, big losses. And apparently accelerating ones. But look at that last statistics: mail volume dropped by 20 percent over the last four years. And while some substantial part of that is recession-related, it is hard to imagine that trend won’t accelerate. Read More
Got something to say about last night’s GOP debate?
Join us over on our TPM Facebook page, for our live discussion.
One point that came up repeatedly in our discussion last night about the crisis in the postal service is that the USPS is apparently subject to a regulation that requires it to pre-pay pension and health care obligations 75 years in advance, something that is required of no other government agency. And a substantial amount of their budget shortfall is tied to that regulation.
TPM Reader SM notes these points …
As a union organizer for SEIU, I have a distinctly labor perspective on the USPS crisis; and, I think that there are two HUGE pieces of information that are often left out of the “The USPS is an aging dinosaur” narrative often perpetuated by the mainstream media.
With the big election in Wisconsin, there’s another big Labor v. GOP fight — this time in Ohio.
One thing I’ve learned from all the reader email we’ve gotten on this subject this morning is how much UPS for instance relies on the US Postal Service for final delivery of many packages.
TPM Reader DW explains …
I work in online retail, so I know quite a bit about sending packages through different carriers.
Here’s some things you might not know…