[This article was written for the newsletter of the American Postal Workers Union Greater Seattle Area Local, where David Yao is vice president.]
The following is my own transcribed version of the notorious September 16 episode of a Fox Business Network show that insulted postal workers, called for postal privatization, and said that much of the American middle class “should have been pushed down.” My own comments have been added, in italics and bold.
Eric Bolling on Fox Business Network's “Money Rocks” program: “Between paying bills online and sending digital greeting cards, does the Postal Service serve any other purpose anymore other than inhaling tax dollars [WRONG- tax dollars do not fund the USPS] and hiring thousands of tellers who seem to take pleasure in making me wait in insanely long lines. Our next guest says that the federal government should get the heck out of mail delivery. We welcome GOP strategist Jack Burkman. Jack, go ahead, so what's a few billion dollars they seem to drop every year, uh, why do you want them out?”
Burkman: “Oh boy, what's a few billion, who even cares anymore, there's so much waste, Eric [WRONG—waste is not the issue. Postal finances were hit by the recession and by Congress requiring $5 billion+ of pre-payments of retiree health premiums]. Most of these guys working in the post office should be driving cabs [WRONG—passing a highly competitive entrance exam is required to work for the USPS], and I think we should stop importing labor from Nigeria and Ethiopia, that's about the skill level [This guy shouldn't be demeaning cab drivers OR postal workers, but I'd bet he couldn't fix a DBCS or pass a scheme]. They're only in there because of massive union protection [Please tell that to the non-members.].
“I mean with the success of something like FedEx, how could anybody, where is the argument that we should have a monopoly with this thing. [Some arguments: the benefits of universal service at affordable rates, economies of scale, and equal-opportunity employment.]
“I mean, you want to know why Congress keeps the Post Office around [Actually, the mailing industry and the public keep it around by demanding and paying for postal services], you really want to know why? I think a lot of members (of Congress) name big post offices after themselves; this is like a thing for ceremonial and memorial waste. If you ride the Amtrak to New York, one of the biggest post offices in New Jersey, it's the Frank, uh, Lautenberg Post Office. This guy isn't even dead. He's the senior senator from New Jersey, and can you imagine, somebody who hasn't even died yet has named a post office after themselves.”
Bolling: “Well, I think there's a lot more, there's precedent set for naming things after people who aren't dead yet, but I'm holding up a card, Jack, you may not be able to see it, but in 2010 it's estimated the Post Office is going to drop $7 billion, again in 2011, but you know, you point out FedEx, a billion-dollar profit in FedEx, and a two billion-dollar profit in UPS [Of course, FedEx and UPS operate in the parcel business aimed at volume customers; the USPS is a public service delivering many different kinds of mail--to every U.S. address]. So what do you suggest we do, we just unravel, just send mail delivery privately?”
Burkman: “If I were president of the United States, I would cease all federal funding and/or involvement, and/or anything with the mail service [which would violate the U.S. Constitution, Article 1 Sec. 8, that gave to Congress alone the power to establish post offices]. There is no argument, no good argument as to why the government should be behind some kind of federal monopoly of the mail service [What about universal affordable service, economies of scale, competitive employment with union wages and protection?], I mean...”
Bolling: “Hang in there Jack, hang in there, Jack. I'm going to bring in my all-star panel, I got it going. Senator (D'Amato), prices up 15% in the last three years. But you know what, the post office is delivering something around 36 billion fewer pieces of mail. Prices up, they're working less, government bureaucracy at its best.” [Actually, the drop in mail volume helped cause the price increases.]
Al D'Amato (former New York senator) “Listen, Jack would have done well without all the name-calling. Okay, he makes a point....the private sector and technology today makes available what no one envisioned could possibly take place, and that is being able to deliver communication, mail, etc., messages that are imperative, throughout the whole nation, today it can be done, and it can be, probably should be privatized.” [Government research was critical in the development of electronic communications. And then he spits out the privatization dogma, without saying why or what that means.]
S.E. Cupp (identified as conservative columnist): “Tell me this isn't a government operation. I mean, I haven't been inside a post office in five years. I mean my bank; I can deposit a check by taking a photograph of the check with my phone and emailing it to my bank. It's time the Post Office come into the 21st century if they want to make a profit.” [We await your concrete suggestions, if you have any.]
Bolling: “Question. You haven't been to a post office in five years, right?”
Cupp: “No.” [So why is she on this panel if she has no working knowledge of the post office?]
Bolling: “How many--have you been to a McDonald's in the last five years? Take a look at this full screen, you guys. This threw us for a loop. We couldn't believe this number...Tamara, post offices; almost triple the amount of post offices in the United States than there are McDonald's. Can you defend that at all? [Cupp, laughingly - “P... post office!] “(Graphic shows 36,396 U.S. post offices, 12,804 McDonald's.) [There are 795,000 restaurants in the United States – that would make for a more accurate comparison.]
Tamara Holder (attorney): “I think it's hard to defend any of this, uh, these government-run operations [Of course, they didn't invite anyone to defend them or even to explain the facts.]. I think that we need to privatize Homeland Security as well, and the post office is one of those things where it looks like there's a lot of waste going on [Cautious wording, no doubt because she has no facts to present, just an anti-government bias.]. Um, but I think, that your, whoever was speaking, Jack, buddy Jack, you know, like the senator said, making all these racist, somewhat racist statements about Nigeria (Burkman protests) is a spinning of sorts. This has nothing to do with whether someone should be driving a taxicab or not. This has to do with government waste, and whether or not we need to close down post offices.”
Burkman: “Let me stand behind my two allegations here because I think they're grounded in nothing but fact. A, I believe it is more than grotesque for a living person to use federal funding to put his name on, on a post office so that everybody on the Amtrak could see it, and, yes, I do allege that that is a major motivation for why the Congress wants to do that, that's No. 1 [Such nonsense—but a chance for him to take a shot at politicians]. No. 2, most of the people employed by the United States Post Office in my view [biased uninformed opinion?] and the view of most economists are thoroughly unskilled labor. That is why, I allege, they should be bumped down to driving cabs, and we should stop importing labor to drive cabs [This makes no sense at all--is there some sort of national labor pool where people get bumped? Who bumps them—and who replaces those who do postal work? Does it somehow change the nature of that work?].
D'Amato: “You are a nasty, you are a nasty racist when you begin to bring – well, I'm going to just make my observation – I have a right to do it. You brought in, the fact is, a bunch of Nigerians. Now wait a minute, Eric. Let me just tell you – that's a bunch of bulls--- and you should be ashamed of yourself and have your mouth washed out. What the hell are you talking about? It's one thing to say that they're out of control.
Burkman: “We are importing, let me defend that, let me defend that. We are importing...” [Shouting back and forth]
D'Amato: “Wait, a minute, shut up. I listened to your racist bulls---. It's one thing to say they are hiring people who are unskilled [as in most industries there are a variety of skill levels, but everyone deserves decent pay and benefits], that you can save money, that you can run it better, that it is inefficient, ineffective, and I agree to all of those things. But for you to bring this bulls--- about a bunch of Nigerians, etc., that's out of line, and you hurt the cause, of saying, guess what, a combination of private-public, a private-public partnership, could do much better than what is being done now.” [Unfortunately, it's already a public-private partnership, with the deep discount presort rates giving birth to the presort mailing houses, parcel consolidators dropping off at delivery units, and joint ventures for Parcel Return Service. And NOBODY wants to take over last-mile delivery—these guys don't know what's going on.]
Bolling: “Senator. Last word, Jack, we gotta go, go ahead.
Burkman: “If you want to have the debate, the reality is that many in the American, quote-unquote, middle, like postal workers, are really unskilled labor, who should have been pushed down for market reasons [So he believes that the middle class should be pushed into poverty, because of his slavish devotion to market theory?], but because of union and government pressures, we import labor at the bottom and we keep these people here, that's a very true statement.”
Bolling: “Jack, we're going to leave it there, we're going to say thank you to you for joining us, and,
um, we kinda went postal on this (laughing).”
This stacked panel of extremists appear to have few actual facts about the post office, and don't understand or care that the recent losses were due to acts of Congress. “There's so much waste there,” but they don't cite any actual waste--their ideology tells them it must be there. (Yes, I know there is waste, as in any large organization, but not on a scale that severely impacts its financial health like the recession did).
They mock post offices and call for them to be closed, trying to undermine public support for postal services. Note the strategy of repeatedly mentioning government waste, and agreeing about privatization but never actually spelling out any details, aimed at convincing the casual listener that there is some kind of legitimate consensus—based on buzzwords. Then their guest “GOP strategist” says that “many in the American middle, like postal workers... should have been pushed down for market reasons.” Here's one guy who obviously favors widening the gap between the haves and have-nots, the opposite of what the labor movement should advocate—lifting all workers to a decent and fair standard of living.
So, the first thing the USPS should do, is go public about this issue. To help our cause we need to inform the public that the Postal Service is a self supporting entity, we don't rely on the Taxpayer dollar for support. Did you get that Jack? Secondly, we should not have idiots (Jack Burkman) on TV, talking about matters they clearly have no knowledge about. GOP strategist....yea right! GOP SMUCK! more like it. Thirdly, privatizing the Postal Service would drive the prices of mailing over the roof, you think .44 cents is high, wait till Fed Ex and UPS and the other mail companies get their piece of the pie. Let the bidding war begin. To say the Postal Service is inefficient, we deliver to every address in the United States, letters and parcels, rain, sleet or snow. The other carriers can't and won't. The Postal Service has a local Post Office in just about every town in the United States, so convenience for the customer is there. Fed Ex and UPS maybe one in a 50 mile radius. Trying to get rid of the Postal Service is a dumb move in my opinion. Another thing Jack, what makes your job so valuable? Do you realize that by getting rid of the Postal Service, you'd be getting rid of 200,000 of more jobs, AHHHH........but what does that matter as long as your making your high end 6 figure salary, who cares, right? Talk about waist.
S.E. Cupp, where the hell you been, haven't been into a post office in 5 yrs. Maybe Cyberspace..... you Airhead. Yea you can take a picture of your check and e-mail it to your bank with your cellphone, whooptie dooo! But tell me Einstien, how much did your phone plan cost you, do you think that most Americans can afford that kind of phone plan. Or afford the type of phone that it takes to do all that stuff, probably not. And if you haven't been into the Post Office for 5 yrs. why the hell do you know so much about it's operations. I think maybe your not qualified to speak badly about the Postal Service, so please be quite........shhhhhh. And clearly if your waiting in god awful lines, then maybe we need more Post Offices and more employees. Hey! what ever happened to a fair fight, what happened to the Post Offices side of this lynching.
Al, I respect you, for calling a spade a spade. But I think your wrong about privatizing the Post Office.
