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To save the post office, you must first rally public support. Like the public protest that forced the FCC to have a change of heart on net neutrality, public pressure must be focused on saving this great institution, too.
The biggest problem the post office faces is it's own success. It stands for all the things that wealth interest in the US hates - Socialism, Unionism, Public benefit and especially Democracy...
Obama views America like one of his international Oligarchs - it's nothing but one of many markets, nothing special, no special allegiance (aka patriotism), just another cog in the wheel.
Great idea, Marc! Except that her idea of "good" is light years from ours.
Reply to post #33: Mark, I hate to say it but I agree with your prediction. And if it proves accurate, this guarantees we’ll still have black market pot. We haven’t come this far only to have the pot buiz hijacked by a bunch of authoritarian, monopolistic fascist pigs.
Ou812 ~ You sound like a broken record. Why don't you take your little needle and stick it where it'll do some good?
Tom, makes a good argument. Many people in my area, (the Memphis area) cash their checks at the liquor stores, for a fee or for free if you buy a bottle, because they don't have bank accounts. There are many of the fast cash pay day loan places they go to also. Even if they go to their boss's bank, they have a hard time cashing their paycheck because they don't have an account there or have insufficient ID. I believe the post office could help millions of people cash their checks but for a small fee because the fee is needed to pay for the service. I don't believe the post office should loan money though. I do believe there is a big problem with credit in this county. It started with the company store then credit cards and now lenders offer consolidation loans to make even more money from people who are drowning in debt. The payday loan places are preditory lenders who prey on poor and desperate people with interest rates similar to the interest rates of the mafia. They also cash checks for a percentage of the checks. The post office could take some of the bite away from these loan sharks.
Freedom of Speech must not to be denied, no matter how insulting it might be to those in power. If Giuliani comes to regret his words, then a heart felt apology would be in order. On the other hand, if he were pressured to apologize and did not do so guided by his own conscience, his words would be meaningless and his freedom of speech compromised.
I refuse to apologize for the many despicable things I have said about Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Hank Paulson and the rest of the George W. Bush Boy crowd. And, it would be a sad day for freedom of speech in this country if I were forced to do so.
So with the one exception of censuring those who are inciting violence, my vote goes for freedom of speech over political correctness, any day.
Thom is seems quite sharp on most topics, like this one here. But on todays radio show he lost me on the 9-11 twin towers collapse, caller discussion.
He tried to supersede all of the architects and engineers scientific facts with his own adament theory while displaying a right-wing style hubris that's highly out of whack with scientists and engineers who study this kind of stuff for a living.
I'll be checking back in on a later date. Hopefully by then he'll have gathered some realistic wisdom from outside of his own swollen brain.
Some years ago at Fannie Mae, our marketing group organized a series of focus groups consisting of different minorities to learn the reasons why so many of them chose to do business with pay day lenders. Many of the people had perfectly fine credit and good employment and income histories. Many felt intimidated by banks, the huge formal infrastructure and what they felt was an immediate negative attitude conveyed by loan officers and other bank employees. Moreover, they expressed concern over the amount of information banks required from them. Disclosing this level of personal information left them feeling vulnerable.
For a decade or so I served on a committee with bank executives, community and non-profit leaders and others focused on economic development challenges in distressed neighborhoods. The lack of bank branches in these neighborhoods was acknowledged as a serious problem, only partially being addressed by the Community Reinvestment Act. What one of the city's largest commercial banks put into place was a unique strategy to attract customers in these neighborhoods: the mini-bank. These branches were placed in retail spaces, offering basic banking services similar to the pay-day lenders and check cashing services, but at much lower costs. In just a few years, the bank's business volume from these retail branches multiplied, and the residents of the neighborhoods increasingly came to think of the bank and its local employees as people they could come to and trust that there needs would be met or at least seriously considered.
One of the great needs in communities where household incomes are lower is for financial education. Efforts by the FDIC, the Federal Reserve Banks and local organizations have never been sufficiently funded to reach a majority of the households in need of such information. The result is that they are too frequently victimized by aggressive and targeted advertising and telemarketing. These were (and still are) the tactics employed by the finance companies and second mortgage lenders who lure people into predatory lending contracts.
In short, among all of the other steps that need to be taken to make our financial system actually serve the needs of people, at the top of the list if a serious commitment to financial literacy. The best way to achieve this is to begin in the schools. Teaching financial literacy and economics should begin in grade seven and continue throughout high school. Then, at least, our younger members would come into young adulthood armed with the knowledge needed to survive financially.
What are the logistics? Where I am currently living/extended visiting, there are more than 12 banks, and all but one is open from 9 am to 3 pm Monday thru Friday only (with all the requisite national holidays closed) and the post office isn't that much better when it comes to available hours.
This stymies a lot of people who aren't all that savvy about account debit cards. They need cash and the banks are closed, so rather than opening an account and being issued a debit card that they can swipe for cash at their bank's ATM (or, for a slight fee at an unaffiliated ATM, 24/7) they follow the path of least resistance - Check-cashing stores with extended hours, or the customer-service desks of local supermarkets.
In order to serve this segment, these postal check-cashing facilities would need to extend hours to attract the type of people I've descrbed. Could this be in your plans? If not, don't bother to try to promote it. It's all about immediacy with the pay-check-to-paycheck citizen.
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sandlewould---
have wanted to thank you for info. on vaccines on feb. 6. Always been against vaccines. A healthy lifestyle gives the bodies immune system a fighting chance.
I believe that the business of the Federal Government is not to be business ...
Unless they are doing critical needs for an unserviced population.
Yes, access to banking is critical.
Do you have any data that would indicate that any group doesn't have access to banking? Inner cities? Rural areas?
Just thinking.
"In fact, individuals without regular banking pay out more money in fees and service charges than our federal government spends on all our domestic food aid."
That would make a really effective talking point. Can you provide some documentation?
This country was stupid enough to put TWO Bush's, and a Reagan, in the White House, so Postal banking will never happen; it's too good of an idea.
And if this country is stupid enough to put a third Bush in the White House...well, need I say more.
A great idea, but the Republicans will never allow such a thing to happen for all the usual reasons.
It ain't gonna happen brecause there can be no democracy ((government that srerves the people, the many not the privileged few) in the United States.
As per a caller on the show re. Barbara Honegar's lecture... Excellent, detailed and thorough; https://m.youtube.n/watch?v=4fvJ8nFa5Qk . Well worth the time on a cold, snowy weekend.
Thanks, mathboy
I just read that Bill Cosby was on Nixon's enemy list.
Barack Obama was bold enough to run for President under his real name, as much as Republicans like to make fun of him for once going by "Barry".
We should make JEBush (as I call him) go by his real name--John Ellis Bush--if he officially runs. "Jeb Bush" is as redundant as "SAT test", "PIN number", "HIV virus" and "ATM machine".
Oops, the first paragraph says "port offices" where I think it was supposed to say "post offices". (I was actually wondering what a port office was for a second.)
And I repeat, no skin off my ass.
And I repeat, no skin off my ass.
And I repeat, no skin off my ass.
And I repeat, no skin off my ass.
And I repeat, no skin off my ass.