US Postal Service loses $2B this spring

[Triana]

35. It's called "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act"

forcing USPS to pre-fund the present value of 75 years of its pension and health-benefit fund in 10 years -- about $5.5 billion annually for a business mandated to break even.

"This is a requirement that no other government agency, let alone a private company, must face."

In short, the USPS is paying for people who aren't even employees yet -- in fact, may not even be born yet!

And the USPS has been a model for prudent squirreling. As of Feb. 2012, it had more than $326 billion in assets in its retirement fund, good for covering 91% of future pension and health-care liabilities. In fact, on its pensions, the USPS is more than 100% funded, compared to 42% at the government and 80% at the average Fortune 1000 company. In health-care pre-funding, the USPS stands at 49%, which sounds not so good until you understand that the government doesn't pre-fund at all and that just 38% of Fortune 1000 companies do, at just a median 37% rate. The USPS does better than almost everyone.

Pre-funding is a burden that other government-linked firms don't have to face, notably defense companies. Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT ) pension was underfunded by $13.3 billion as of Aug. 2012 -- nearly half of its market cap. Raytheon's (NYSE: RTN ) was underfunded by $6 billion, more than one-third of its market cap, and Boeing's (NYSE: BA ) by $16.6 billion, almost 30%. They have the luxury of profitability and time to fund their obligations. Another advantage: They can invest in a wide range of securities, while the USPS is forced to invest in only government bonds. Yeah, those bonds that, in some cases, pay less than 1% interest. So USPS has to save a lot more money now for the same payout later.

How the Postal Service Is Being Gutted:

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/03/04/how-the-postal-service-is-being-gutted.aspx (Folks, this whole article is a worthy read. It explains how and why private interests ie: Fed Ex and UPS) are manipulating Congress into destroying the USPS by preventing it from being ABLE to act as a normal business or to complete with those private entities - all this, outside the damn poison pill Congress slammed USPS with in 2006). It's clear they want it GONE.