Oh, dear. Liberals on Twitter are using the very technological means that ushered in the U.S. Postal Service’s demise to try and save the Big Labor-burdened agency. It’s all the big, bad GOP’s fault, of course:
https://twitter.com/140elect/status/299941221793681409
https://twitter.com/sibhuskylover/status/299959091697168384
Rapeublicants KILLING the Middle Class, One Union at a Time. DESPICABLE. Corp Welfare Enablers. Constitution HATERS. #SaveUSPS #FUGOP
— Cos2mwiz (@Cos2mwiz2) February 8, 2013
Believe it or not, this one is not a parody:
The GOP are a gang of TYRANTS who're destroying the USPS to oppress workers and stage a coup #SaveUSPS
— ?? Sue B. #WearAMask ?? (@meow2u22) February 8, 2013
As House Republicans on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee note in response to lib talking points:
Prefunding Myth: The Postal Service is unfairly required to fully fund 75 years of retiree health care benefits in 10 years with an annual $5.5 billion payment. If only the prefunding requirement were eliminated the Postal Service would be on a path to prosperity.
Prefunding Fact: USPS has to save now, or it will not be able to afford retiree health care later. If they can’t, taxpayers will be on the hook for billions of dollars.
To protect taxpayers from covering USPS large unfunded liability on retiree health care benefits, Congress mandated that USPS make a series of catch-up payments, often called “prefunding,” starting in 2007 and going through 2017. These catch-up payments will ensure USPS has saved enough money now to meet these obligations later. Within the next few years, the annual costs of paying current benefits will dwarf current costs. Saving now is the only way to make this affordable later, and prevent a taxpayer funded bailout. Though the Postal Service was created to be a self-sustaining entity- taxpayers stand behind this large and growing liability. If the Postal Service were allowed to immediately cease making these catch-up payments, it would have an unfunded liability of nearly $100 billion by 2017. This would clearly be an unaffordable burden for an entity whose core business and revenue is steadily shrinking. It would likely result in a taxpayer funded bailout of postal workers’ retiree health care payments. The annual deficit of the Postal Service now easily exceeds its entire annual catch-up payment, illustrating its fiscal problems run much deeper.
Limited-government conservatives provided additional necessary and biting reality checks:
You want to #SaveUSPS? Please, tell me all about it the next time you send an email instead of a letter through the mail. Can't wait.
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) February 8, 2013
#SaveUSPS because my shredder would get lonely without all that junk mail.
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) February 8, 2013
https://twitter.com/HollyNapierTN/status/299959799070728192
https://twitter.com/stevedars/status/299959839461896192
#SaveUSPS because you can't spell "over-bloated, outdated, bankrupt bureaucracy" without "USPS".
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) February 8, 2013
Yup:
#SaveUSPS because Democrats will always put unions above the common good.
— Lisa Graas † Passionist † #Catholic (@CatholicLisa) February 8, 2013
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