Postal Letter

How can Liberals compare USPS mail delivery to Healthcare when they argue for government intervention?

I mean if healthcare is equivalent to mail delivery how can you argue that healthcare is a right? These are two entirely different systems we're talking about. And the USPS is billions of $$$$ in debt but hey...money is just paper right?

Public Comments

1. Why stop at health care? The government regulates most aspects of our lives to some extent. (Why'd you block me, by the way?)
2. You really missed the point didn't ya? The point was that a private and government owned business can exist within the same industry. The comparison stops there.
3. Money means nothing to the dems as long as it is your money they are spending...
4. Excellent points. I don't have the "right" to get a letter mailed, I have to pay for it. And I will never get it mailed on Sunday and probably soon not Saturday, either. I think the appropriate comparison is really public education, but that doesn't help their cause, either. We keep throwing money at that, too, but quality doesn't improve. beren, that's not even a valid comparison. FedX cannot send a letter for $.44 and go $7 billion in debt. That point is exactly why the government should stay out of healthcare. But if the point is that private entities CAN compete with government services, we already know it, because of the public education/ private education comparison. Some of us just don't wish to continue seeing the decline of the middle class as liberals push us increasingly into 2 lines, creating a 3rd world nation.
5. In some cases the mail is delivered by killers (going postal, anyone?) & the health care will be administered by killers: (euthanasia, anyone?).
6. Liberals are just giving a anecdotal example of how a government program can run along side private programs and the private programs can still be effective, perhaps more effective then the public one. My advice would be not to read too much into it because it is a direct response to lies and misrepresentation of health care reform by the republican party. I have to say, that the republicans are digging themselves a big hole right now, and if they want to play ball they better start now before the ADULTS in this country finally get fed up and move on without them. Health care should be a right. Fire protection is a public service. You have the right for your life to be protected by the police. Imagine if those services went to the highest bidder. France and Canada spend less money on health care and are more efficient. If they can do it, we can do it better.
7. Let me guess, you were homeschooled?
8. How can you exist as a YA subscriber if you never use facts to back up what you write? The USPS is losing money because they aren't allowed to make more than their costs--this is by law. They have to ask for rate increases, unlike the private sector. They have to compete with major carriers who take their business. Fuel costs for delivery have gone up, as have other operating costs that must be paid. 9% of the revenue taken in goes to the carriers and clerks. The rest goes to management and overhead. Email has taken away the art of letter writing for most--an entire generation thinks an e-mothers day card is just as good as a hardcopy. The USPS has to fight with one hand tied behind it's back. Despite all of this, they still deliver billions of pieces of mail per year from point a to point b for a very small cost. A bargain you've apparently taken for granted. If anything, you just made the case for single payer health care. Why should the insurance corporations be afraid of competing with the government in your view, considering you think so poorly of the USPS?
9. It is another example of having the government in control of any system.
10. What the heck are you talking about? Is the media filled with people comparing the Postal Service with medical care? If anyone was doing that, it was the conservatives, remember? "Are you going to trust the people who can't run the post office to run the medical system?" And: "I mean if healthcare is equivalent to mail delivery how can you argue that healthcare is a right?" Are you serious? Equivalent aren't Equal in every way.
11. he USPS is losing money because they aren't allowed to make more than their costs--this is by law. They have to ask for rate increases, unlike the private sector From an answer above. SO with that statement, how can a government run health care system function with limits on profit and no extra taxes (except on millionaires)? When it runs a trillion dollars into debt and it will, then what? Cut doctors,nurses,staff pay? Raise taxes on the rich even higher? Tax more businesses? How do you think we are going to pay for this? My guess is that the middle class will foot the bill for this and our rate will be 50%
12. Two different animals. I just retired from the USPS and you would have to research it better to see how it is run. They are a quasi governmental agency and not tax payer supported. Fed ex and UPS would not give the same service at the same price.