Post Office

I know this is a "different" topic, but one that annoys me.

The Post Office. No, not their service. Rather the stories today that tout that they are going to "default" on their obligations next week.

Without getting too technical, the U.S. Post Office is the only entity in the world that is required by law to "pre-fund" retiree health obligations. Now you might say they should. But they are required to fund the retiree health obligations through 2075 ... basically today.

That is because in 2006 Congress was trying to pass some spending bill and wanted to make it revenue neutral. The Post Office was generating billions a year in "profits" and cash flow. So they came up with the idea of pre-funding future costs so that they could count the pre-funding as currect collections and whallah ... the spending was revenue neutral.

Last year, the Post Office had cash flow from operation of just over $20 billion. They pre-funded $22 billion. This year they are still cash flowing and profitable ... except they have to pre-fund a minimum of $5.5 billion which is the problem.

Only Congress could think up such a silly plan. Pre-fund retiree health care costs 60 years in the future. Like I said, there is not another business in the world required to do that. But watch, in a matter of days the politicians will be saying that the P.O. is poorly managed and losing money.

OK, this is probably only annoying because I am a CPA. Still, arrrrrrrrrgh. I just hate the way politicians (all of them) think and the gimmicks they come up with. They lie and then spin the narrative to fit their purpose.