Thread by @nick_kapur

I wish articles like this would also point out that the Republicans have actively been trying to destroy the Postal Service for decades, and directly caused its recent woes.

A thread. 1/

washingtonpost.com/business/2020/…

In 2006, George W. Bush and a Republican Congress passed the Orwellian-named "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act," designed to destroy the Postal Service. 2/

Conceived and written by lobbyists for FedEx and other private package carriers, the law forced the Postal Service to pre-fund its employee pension obligations for the next *75 years* - something no other govt. agency, let alone a private corporation has to do. 3/

The Postal Service was required to do immediately over just 10 years, from 2007 to 2016.

If not for this completely arbitrary and nonsensical requirement, the Postal Service would have made a small profit in that time period.

Instead, it racked up $16 billion in debt. 4/

On top of this, the Postal Service was required to invest *all* of its pension funds into ultra low-paying government bonds and nothing in stocks, again something no reasonable company or govt. agency would do.

This was designed to ensure ongoing pension shortfalls. 5/

In addition, the Postal Service was expressly banned from leveraging its high value, high-traffic retail locations to offset its expenses by selling retail items such as snacks, stationary, or USPS-branded souvenirs.

It is only allowed to sell packaging and stamps. 6/

The Postal Service is the second-largest civilian employer in the United States, employing approximately half a million Americans and even more during seasonal peaks. 7/

The Postal Service is also one of the largest employers of African Americans and other minorities in America. 8/

The Postal Service is also a crucial lifeline to rural areas (many of them in red states) that have been abandoned even by big box retail and which would never be served by private carriers because there is not enough profit in it. 9/

In the age of pandemics and online shopping for crucial daily necessities, a nationwide postal service is an essential public good that cannot be left to the whims of a private company's profit motive. 10/

In addition, when pandemics and other emergencies require voting by mail, faith in our democracy requires that a reliable, non-partisan government agency rather than a private company collect and deliver mailed ballots. 11/

Not to mention a postal service run by the federal government is explicitly called for in Article I of the U.S. Constitution!

We cannot allow Trump and the Republicans to destroy it.

12/12