Save the Postal Service, Cut the Military Budget

By JASON SIBERT

The COVID-19 pandemic reminded our country of the importance of cooperation in times of need but not in every instance.

Across America, there are yard signs thanking healthcare and retail workers for their input in the emergency. The Post Office has also played a role in delivering our mail day in and day out. Some are dependent on the post office for medicines and other essentials. Amazon.com’s supply lines have been crucial in this fight, although the company should do more to protect its workers from the virus.

However, there has been a systematic attempt to do away with the institution of the Post Office, or at least weaken it. In 2006, the Republican Congress, under President George W. Bush, passed the Postal Accountability and Engagement Act that made the agency fund retirees’ pensions 75 years in advance, something unheard of in the public or private sector, and those payments are responsible for much of the Postal Service’s losses since then.

Donald Trump recently rejected a stimulus bill designed to shore up funding for the Postal Service. Although the Postal Service is particularly important as people stay at home, mail volume is down due to the COVID-19 pandemic as many businesses have stopped mailing. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered a $10 billion loan with various strings attached – a rate hike on shipping, Treasury Department oversight and concessions by postal workers on their collective bargaining agreements.

The Postal Service serves all Americans regardless of where they live and for the same cost nationwide. The service also provides relatively high pay to workers for a relatively small postage fee and it has not received a dime from the federal government in years. The Postal Service’s success is a story of putting democratic values above the values of private profit — citizens depend on the post office for so many things and it is a valuable tool for low-income people because it is so cheap for them to use.

Many tools should be utilized in the fight to save the Postal Service – an increase in postage rates and repeal of the ridiculous Postal Accountability and Engagement Act. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recommended restoring the postal savings system. Under his plan, the Postal Service would cash checks, offer savings accounts and offer small loans. This would be a welcome addition to poor neighborhoods which have few if any banking services – better than current payday lenders that charge outrageous rates. The United States had a postal banking system from 1911 to 1967.

Another source of funding we could look to is the overblown military-industrial complex, as it produces little useful in a pandemic. The official military budget is $738 billion, but all US related defense spending is $1.25 trillion a year, according to William Hartung of the Center for International Policy. Half of this amount would provide the funding to fight COVID-19 and include shoring up the Postal Service. The virus we are fighting knows no borders and the nature of the threat makes the weapons we build a luxury we cannot afford.

Jason Sibert is executive director of the Peace Economy Project in St. Louis. Email jasonsibert@hotmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, June 15, 2020

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