Internal Records Reveal Treasury Department Attempted 'Unprecedented' and Arguably 'Illegal' Takeove

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Law and Crime

Internal Records Reveal Treasury Department Attempted ‘Unprecedented’ and Arguably ‘Illegal’ Takeover of USPS
JERRY LAMBE
Sep 17th, 2020, 2:37 pm 11

A trove of internal communications records released Thursday revealed that as the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) struggled amid mounting debt and a surging global pandemic earlier this year the U.S. Department of Treasury attempted to seize operational control of the agency—making a $10 billion loan to the mail delivery service contingent upon the agency surrendering its autonomy.

The nearly 10,000-page cache of documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by government watchdog group American Oversight and first reported by The Washington Post.

According to The Post’s review, the trove of documents included three email conversations from early April that made direct references to agency officials’ phone conversations with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Mnuchin’s department was charged with overseeing and distributing the $2 trillion stimulus approved by Congress in the CARES Act.

Two people familiar with the matter told The Post that during USPS’s negotiations with Treasury, the department “drove a hard line, demanding operating control over the agency (USPS) in exchange for the $10 billion congressionally approved loan,” a demand that postal experts said was “unprecedented.”

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/internal-records-reveal-treasury-department-attempted-unprecedented-and-arguably-illegal-takeover-of-usps/?utm_source=mostpopular

[louis-t]

1. Coming soon: full privatization and $1.50 to mail a letter.

Count on it. But the "private sector can do it better and cheaper" will still be their mantra.

[regnaD kciN]

6. Doubt it...

...I suspect the USPS would return to normal, under whatever leadership, by November 5th. This was all about rigging the election.

[DENVERPOPS]

14. Actually not entirely

The RepubliCONs have been working at destroying the USPS for years so that Fedex and UPS would get all the business, and huge profits for those corporations.

Just another act from the impending Corporate Fascist Tyranny..........

[live love laugh]

15. 💯💯

[aggiesal]

12. $1.50 ? ...

Have you ever tried to send a letter to an address across the street from you house, using FedEx.
I did, to try and prove a point.
It cost $11, and that wasn't for an overnight.

I sent a envelop addressed to a friend across the street at a FedEx drop-off location.
It took 2 days before it arrived and it cost $11. My neighbor had to pay the $11,
so it didn't cost me a dime, except time and gas money.

This is what you should expect when they PROFITIZE the postal service.

I don't use PRIVATIZE, I use PROFITIZE.
Words matter.

[live love laugh]

16. Very well stated nt

[mollie8]

17. Don't use FedEx

I ordered a $15 item on Sept.2. Was charged something over $7. Item went to FedEx on 9/3. It went from Grand Rapids, MI to Perrysburg, OH to Hagerstown, MD , to Martinsburg, WV. Arrived at Fed Ex location in Concord, NC, on 9/9. There it bounced around in Concord until 9/13 when it landed in Greenville, SC, on 9/13. Went to Charlotte, NC, on 9/14 before going back to Concord, NC, where it still sits according to the tracking program. I live near Marion, NC, which is about an hour and a half from Charlotte. Called the company that I bought the item from and they apologized for it taking so long and said they would refund the shipping fee. The arrival date has changed from 9/12 to 9/19 to 9/22. I'm still waiting. Looks like it's at the Fed Ex location in Concord, NC. Hope the package gets here before Christmas. If they move it to Hickory, NC, I think I'll go get it.

[Rebl2]

19. I ordered

something from Kohl’s back in August. It was shipped FedEx part of the way, then transferred to post office to what is called last mile. Most of the time it was with FedEx though. It took forever to get.

[BarbD]

2. So much to investigate...so little time.

[Lock him up.]

3. another quid pro quo with taxpayers money...

steven "we do it all the time" mnuchin should start looking for places to fly to... (not really)

donny "hannibal" dRumpf plans to murder millions more than the 200K he already killed for vlad's approval.

[Grasswire2]

23. We do it all the time was Mulvaney.

Although the phrase is likely applicable to every stinking one.

[soothsayer]

4. Not unprecedented -- Treasury did it to Fannie and Freddie

They forced a loan on Fannie and Freddie in 200 or 2009 with terms they thought would never be met (10% interest or something for some $190 billion of dollars; this gave the govt a stake in these privately held enterprises).

When both quickly recovered and were able to pay back the loan, the govt changed the terms and decided to sweep any profits each quarter as a “dividend” for the taxpayers.

The billions of dollars Treasury sweeps each quarter do NOT count towards paying off the loans. Thus the loans can never be repaid.

So they received $190B and have repaid $300B or more but still owe $190B forever, with all profits swept each quarter. Investors are screwed.

The government would run out of money pretty often if they weren’t milking these cash cows.

[zaj]

10. Operational control is a big step further than bailout.

... with dividends or even equity.

The cool was about destroying and abusing power.

[soothsayer]

11. Well they're controlled by a government conservator

The govt fired the boards and replaced them. Pretty much control every little thing.

I’m sure it’s the model mnuchin wanted to follow... sort of.

[AZ8theist]

5. THERE. NEEDS. TO. BE. PRISON.

[ffr]

8. +1

For all of these conservative goons.

[intheflow]

7. The couldn't get that through so they hired DeJoy.

[2naSalit]

18. +1

[Grasswire2]

24. exactly nt

[dlk]

9. Extortion...

[LudwigPastorius]

13. At this point, the whole Federal government will need a thorough...

de-Nazification if, and when, Democrats regain power.

[Hekate]

20. Some people need to be in Federal prison

[NoRoadUntravelled]

21. Gotta hand it to this administration.

Almost every day they manage to come up with a new way to flaunt their corruption.

[LiberalFighter]

22. Mnuchin needs to be bleached.

[miyazaki]

25. Awww wtf is it now.

Just every goddamn day something else.

As I always mention, in some other time and age, all these fuckers heads would be on sticks.