The Patriot Post® · USPS $100B in the Red

Another quarter, another $1.9 billion in losses for the United States Postal Service. If that sounds familiar, that’s because this was identical to the losses reported during the first quarter of 2013. “And it came despite a 2.3 percent rise in its operating revenue and continued cost-cutting efforts,” reports the Associated Press. But an even more startling report came via the Government Accountability Office. They found that, “At the end of fiscal year 2013, USPS had about $100 billion in unfunded liabilities: $85 billion in unfunded liabilities for benefits, including retiree-health, pension, and workers’ compensation liabilities, and $15 billion in outstanding debt to the U.S. Treasury – the statutory limit.” Even more remarkable, “USPS’s debt and unfunded liabilities have become a large and growing burden – increasing from 83 percent of USPS’s revenues in fiscal 2007 to 148 percent of revenues in fiscal year 2013.” The meltdown in Detroit is only a small example of the public pension crisis.