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To the Editor:
Let me take you back in time, back to before the George W. Bush years, and before.  If you followed the Republican party, you will remember they kept saying the United States Post Office is in trouble.  Well, at that time, it wasn’t, but with a little conniving, and collusion with George W. Bush, that statement would become a reality. How?  
Under Bush, the USPS accounting system was revamped, setting up a specific, separate fund, to pay benefits to workers for what was noted in the news, 75 years ahead, even before some of the workers had been born.  Even at that time, reports indicated that it wouldn’t be long before the USPS would be in the red, not from overhead operating expenses, but simply paying exorbitant, unnecessary money into the reserve account.
Enter Republican minions to finagle around to change the processing of mail, being shifted from the local post offices, to be trucked to a central city, separated, local mail brought back, and out of town mail sorted and passed along to another service center for delivery.  This mail sometimes would be trucked hours away. This required the hiring of drivers for these trucks.  This would require replacing said trucks about every year or two, but oh, I believe someone could rent them to the USPS, make a lot of money off the rentals, and further cost the USPS more money.  Now let’s put a buddy in charge of owning and renting the trucks, and he will be our supporter.
Now process the mail at these central locations, and mail delivery can be in the hands of a few. Therefore, the processing and speed of delivery can be controlled.  
Now this buddy can take a few million of the money he will make, donate it to our candidate, and we can have some control over a future election. He of course, will have a nice compensation package.
Now put the buddy in charge of the USPS and the plan comes together. Make the USPS look like it’s in the red, but don’t remind the people how the accounting system was set up. Use the USPS to slow down and accuse the USPS of being in the red because not enough money has been placed in this reserve account, which is NOT being taken into consideration when presenting the USPS solubility. Beg Congress for funds to keep the USPS going, and stash those funds in a account. (The Dems aren’t innocent because they haven’t kept up with what has been going on, but then, they also have to have some legislative power, which they have had little of for several years.)
Theoretical: Time goes by. Before the funds can be used, those in the government who are in charge of the USPS, declare the USPS is so far in the red, it needs have a big bailout. Bailout is done. Then the USPS is declared still in the red and must be privatized. Congress, who is probably not following this, otherwise they would know the bailout isn’t legitimate, decides to sell off the USPS and privatize it. A lot of big, rich corporations invest together, bid and get hold of the USPS, and now have access to this reserve fund with billions, and those employees in the USPS get shafted, but the rich are rolling in dough and the mail itself, is in jeopardy.
This is what I have seen over the last 20 to 30 years and what I have concluded. The USPS has become another TVA, (I can tell you about this, too) in control of the Republicans to their benefit. Have you followed this, too?

Janet Hyder
Elizabethton