Joe Biden Does it Again: "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. ... It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

Did I say Joe Biden? I meant our clean and articulate commander in chief.

Sayeth the genius:

As long as they have a good product and the government plan has to sustain itself through premiums and other non-tax revenue, private insurers should be able to compete with the government plan, Obama said.

"They do it all the time," he said. "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. ... It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

Um, that's part of the problem.

Even taking his quote for the claim it's meant to stand for: UPS and FedEx would be doing better. The trouble is, they're not permitted, by law, to compete with the Post Office regarding regular (that is, non-overnight) mail.

They are specifically excluded from that market.

They are "doing fine" in the market segment they're permitted to compete in.

However, if the law were changed and they were permitted to compete for regular mail delivery, they might not be "doing fine" in that market if the government competed unfairly in that arena, such as imposing general taxes on everyone to reduce the cost of postage, etc.

The government, on the other hand, continues to exist in this business at all only because the government grants itself a monopoly in the delivery of regular mail.

That's the only reason we still have a Post Office. Government fiat.

What a boneheaded remark. Yes, let's remind everyone of the shocking difference in experience between the Post Office and FedEx or UPS.

posted by Ace at 02:44 PM

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