@rdunniii posted:The bottom line is neither Amtrak nor the USPS will ever be profitable because Congress will not allow them to be. Amtrak was profitable for a couple of years when they were running mixed trains but the private sector whined to Congress so they were told to stop. My favorite Amtrak trip was and always will be on the 3 Rivers from Chicago to Philadelphia. 33 cars long (limited by the railroad) but only 4 of them carried passengers. Shippers loved it.
And so long as the USPS has to continue rural delivery they won't be profitable either.
In 2006, Congress and President Bush signed into law The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act which forced the USPS to pay in advance for the health and retirement benefits of all of its employees for at least 50 years, and stipulated that the price of postage could not increase faster than the rate of inflation. It also mandated the USPS to deliver six days of the week.
It got very little corporate media attention at the time or since. Instead corporate media have given a platform to the lies about the plight of the USPS instead which is why so many people have no idea about any of this. That makes corporate owned media complicit in the lies surrounding the financial problems of the USPS.
Now, the US House is introducing 2021 Postal Service Reform Act a watered down but at least an attempt at undoing the damage to the agency caused by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. Guess what? IT TOO is getting little or no corporate owned media attention reaffirming their complicity in the lies surrounding the actual reasons for the financial problems of the USPS. Now if your favorite corporate owned cable news station is talking about any of it, I will stand corrected.
John
