Day One of Bush's attempt to destroy both the Postal Service & American small business

[brentspeak]

The new postal rate schedule went into effect today. The cost to send packages to other countries has increased from 20% to almost 50% (depending on country). Also, it is no longer possible to economically send even a simple letter envelope to an overseas destination: Global Priority flat-rate small-sized envelopes no longer exist; economy surface mail has been eliminated entirely.

The Bush appointees responsible?

The USPS Board of Governors:

http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/bog.htm

The Postmaster General and his staff of stooges:

http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/pmg.htm

And last, but not least, the new Postal Regulatory Commission:

http://www.prc.gov/

The new rates were decided not with Congressional oversight or evaluation, but on the "advice" of Time Warner Inc., whose plan locked in low rates for themselves, while raising the rates beyond affordability for smaller publishers. In addition, the new international rates effectively amount to a built-in tariff on all American exports.