The military doesn't make a profit, the USPS doesn't make a profit. These are services. I don't agree with the military, it's outrageously big. Id much rather tax dollars come back to us with cheap or free services and groceries or healthcare directly, instead of funnelling them into private organizations and hoping for the best
That is correct, but it is also a misunderstood fact often pushed by people who want to privatize all mail and disband the USPS. The "losses" were essentially manufactured unintentionally by the federal government.
A significant chunk of those $120 billion in recorded losses stemmed from the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. This law forced the USPS to prefund 75 years worth of future retiree health benefits over a single decade. This is a strict financial burden placed on virtually no other government agency or private corporation. The USPS ultimately defaulted on tens of billions of dollars of these payments because it simply didn't have the cash. What organization would?
The act in 2006 was a bipartisan act with overwhelming support largely because congress thought they were cleverly fixing an accounting issue. The USPS was doing so well prior to this that it was overpaying into its pension funds in order to protect pensions in case of future liquidity issues. But due to quirks in federal accounting this would mean that when they stopped overpaying (because they got the rainy day funds they intended) it would have a hugely negative impact on the federal budget.
So, congress tried to keep those overpayments going with the 2006 act. But it was a huge mistake because they put the burden way too high and there was a pending revenue problem with first class mail demand plummeting. This was also bipartisanly recognized as a blunder. USPS was allowed to default on its payment obligations established in the 2006 act. Those defaulted funds are booked as losses and accumulated debts. The the act was repealed in 2022. But USPS is still dealing with the consequences.
So, these losses are basically an accounting issue caused by a legal trap that no one really intended and they have never been subsidized by tax payer dollars.
The military is government-run because of a very specific, well-understood market failure (free rider problem). There is no comparable market failure in the grocery retail sector that justifies nationalizing that industry.
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u/socialistForDE Sep 15 '26
The military doesn't make a profit, the USPS doesn't make a profit. These are services. I don't agree with the military, it's outrageously big. Id much rather tax dollars come back to us with cheap or free services and groceries or healthcare directly, instead of funnelling them into private organizations and hoping for the best