Should public schools really be doing this?

[guido911]

And yet one more example of where competition has not improved the government product.  Actually their product isn't so bad, they simply do a poor job of managing cash and their assets.  The postal service is one government service which could be out-sourced and managed profitably.  There IS an alternative to the government product for those who wish to (literally) pay the freight.  

Don't underestimate the leverage the Teamsters has on UPS.  Last time they walked out, UPS really did not have competition in the ground freight business, so they didn't risk permanent damage to their customer base by refusing to buckle to union demands right away.  Now that FedEx has a competent ground organization (and I do not believe their drivers are unionized) UPS could lose a ton of customers.  

In one way, I really wish the government schools that are failing would just tank already so we can find real solutions. For those in these schools now, I would like them to get a voucher for a private school or be allowed to transfer. Leaving these kids there and hoping for a "success story" is not a solution by any means.

[nathanm]

Funny that the "universal mandate" thingy you mentioned didn't make the author of this article's list.

Funny that you expect a hit piece like that to talk about the real issues. The USPS has a universal service mandate and flat-rate first class mail for a reason. If you want to go back to the 1800s and leave half your countrymen behind, there are plenty of places you'd be better off living. I'm about to be visiting one, actually. It seems to be attracting quite a large number of randhole expats.

You may not be aware of this, but there are places in this country to which FedEx and UPS won't deliver at any price. And places without electricity, much less Internet access or phone service. But yeah, let's leave folks behind, why not. It costs too much damn money to fulfill the ideals outlined in our Constitution. We're throwing the rest of it away, so why not one more thing?

[Conan71]

Funny that you expect a hit piece like that to talk about the real issues. The USPS has a universal service mandate and flat-rate first class mail for a reason. If you want to go back to the 1800s and leave half your countrymen behind, there are plenty of places you'd be better off living. I'm about to be visiting one, actually. It seems to be attracting quite a large number of randhole expats.

You may not be aware of this, but there are places in this country to which FedEx and UPS won't deliver at any price. And places without electricity, much less Internet access or phone service. But yeah, let's leave folks behind, why not. It costs too much damn money to fulfill the ideals outlined in our Constitution. We're throwing the rest of it away, so why not one more thing?

There appears to be quite a bit of waste and inefficiencies in the system, too many facilities to maintain, too many employees dependent on the USPS.  The list of people who aren't communicating primarily via electronic media is getting smaller and smaller by the day, even in rural areas.  Consider that the postal service is the leading cause of unwanted and unsolicited litter to my house.  They are somewhat of an anachronism in this day and age when the government is supposed to be leading by example in being more environmentally-friendly.  There's a lot of emissions used delivering that mail and even more created printing trash I do not need or read.  The only piece of value I get is value news because the newsprint is ideal for lighting charcoal in my draft chimney.  The bills I can get delivered electronically I do.  Other than the occasional greeting card, there's nothing I expect in my mailbox.  It's becoming an outmoded method of delivering information.  At some point in the next 50 years, I could see daily mail as being obsolete.

Certainly there's a place for the USPS and other people are necessarily more dependent on their services than I am, but like many other arms of government, it doesn't need to be as big as it is in this day and age.  The revenue issues are bearing this out.  It's not just employment costs, they also have a lot of maintenance costs associated with maintaining an aging fleet of buildings and vehicles. 

Personally, I think the idea of stopping Saturday mail delivery would be a great cost-saving measure.

[nathanm]

I agree that there are probably efficiencies to be found, and that I could do without the junk mail. Problem is that the junk mail is largely what finances the whole system. One of the big reasons they're hurting so badly despite the regular rate increases is that there are fewer ads being sent than in years past.

I'm not terribly enthused about giving up Saturday delivery, though. I don't think it would actually save that much money, and it would make netflix much less convenient.

[Conan71]

I agree that there are probably efficiencies to be found, and that I could do without the junk mail. Problem is that the junk mail is largely what finances the whole system. One of the big reasons they're hurting so badly despite the regular rate increases is that there are fewer ads being sent than in years past.

I'm not terribly enthused about giving up Saturday delivery, though. I don't think it would actually save that much money, and it would make netflix much less convenient.

Then quit expecting non-netflix using taxpayers to subsidize your Netflix habit and be willing to pay more for FedEx or UPS delivery of your DVD's

Don't tell my mother I said that, as a Netflix junkie herself, she'd kick my donkey.

Seriously, aren't they looking at going to electronic delivery for Netflix now?

Now, back to schools...

[Hoss]

Then quit expecting non-netflix using taxpayers to subsidize your Netflix habit and be willing to pay more for FedEx or UPS delivery of your DVD's

Don't tell my mother I said that, as a Netflix junkie herself, she'd kick my donkey.

Seriously, aren't they looking at going to electronic delivery for Netflix now?

Now, back to schools...

They actually have been doing electronic delivery for a little while now (PS3 and I think XBox owners get this, as well as some BD player owners..I have the option but don't have a Netflix account, as I wish to put a pox on those sucking up all the bandwidth via Cox that renders my connection crappy for part of the evening..as a HD movie averages about 4 gb of bandwidth).

[heironymouspasparagus]

Conan,
I would be thrilled to quit expecting non-Netflix users to quit subsidizing the habit.

Just as soon as the warmongering, right wing extremists quit expecting me to subsidize their imperialistic voyeurism to the tune of trillions of dollars and 4,000 + lives of our children!  You remember that little event; going to Iraq to look for the people we wanted who really were - and we knew it - in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Post office looks like a hell of a bargain compared to that.  Most of the other stuff we do looks like a hell of a bargain compared to those deaths of our kids and the maiming and mutilating of tens of thousands of more.  And the subsequent neglect of those survivors...

Schools are a trivial expense compared to those losses.  Guess it just depends on how much we truly value the lives of those soldiers, as well as the rest of our kids.  Even most of the people I know who have no children of their own recognize the value of participating in the education of all.  The problem is, the Harvard MBA program has been able to show how much value there is to getting rid of jobs in this country, but they haven't been able to show the value to society of an educated, contributing member of that society.

What is really amazing is how some people cannot see the inter-connectedness of the whole thing.  The goofy kids down the street who grew up in the neighborhood - how that all fits together to form a complex "machine" that is our society, economy, and way of life.

[Conan71]

Conan,
I would be thrilled to quit expecting non-Netflix users to quit subsidizing the habit.

Just as soon as the warmongering, right wing extremists quit expecting me to subsidize their imperialistic voyeurism to the tune of trillions of dollars and 4,000 + lives of our children!  You remember that little event; going to Iraq to look for the people we wanted who really were - and we knew it - in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Post office looks like a hell of a bargain compared to that.  Most of the other stuff we do looks like a hell of a bargain compared to those deaths of our kids and the maiming and mutilating of tens of thousands of more.  And the subsequent neglect of those survivors...

Schools are a trivial expense compared to those losses.  Guess it just depends on how much we truly value the lives of those soldiers, as well as the rest of our kids.  Even most of the people I know who have no children of their own recognize the value of participating in the education of all.  The problem is, the Harvard MBA program has been able to show how much value there is to getting rid of jobs in this country, but they haven't been able to show the value to society of an educated, contributing member of that society.

What is really amazing is how some people cannot see the inter-connectedness of the whole thing.  The goofy kids down the street who grew up in the neighborhood - how that all fits together to form a complex "machine" that is our society, economy, and way of life.

Keep in mind those 4000 were not conscripted into the service.  They went willingly into something they believed in and knew the risks.  Everyone is weary of the wars overseas, and yes they have been costly, let's drop the tired rhetoric over them.

Back to the topic at hand: $1 billion here, $15 billion there, $6 billion over yonder that all eventually adds up.  It only takes finding 1000 $1 billion wastes to cut $1 trillion from the budget.  And for those with short memories, I've got no problem in EVERYONE sharing in a corresponding tax increase to help right the ship.

We need to re-set the priorities we expect from our government.  Do we want to continue to say that since it's only $80,000 it's okay that our gov't is funding research into why the same teams keep making it to the NCAA tournament every year?  Or is it more important to fund a teaching job with that $80K?

Should more public school funding come from the feds with performance strings attached, or do we want better local funding mechanisms which would keep the feds out of state business?

I simply refuse to see $200,000 boondoggles as "minor" or such a minuscule speck on the budget it's not worth worrying about.  For every dollar wasted, that's a dollar which cannot go to a worthy program.  I do think public education is a worthy and expected service provided by tax dollars.

[guido911]

Just as soon as the warmongering, right wing extremists quit expecting me to subsidize their imperialistic voyeurism to the tune of trillions of dollars and 4,000 + lives of our children!  You remember that little event; going to Iraq to look for the people we wanted who really were - and we knew it - in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Who knew that Obama was a warmongering, right wing extremist? At early April 2011, the Libyan operation had cost over $600M.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ji9xb3vW6c9MpNTjsTELu7GMHI8g?docId=CNG.a75eb18b88e9d2bd744da1f674e29b55.b1

[heironymouspasparagus]

And yep, Obama, too.  Libya was stupid.  No "tired rhetoric" - more a statement of fact.

Congress can spend how many hours talking about $80,000 or $800,000 occurrences; or even billion dollar ones?  And in the end, when it is all added up, you save a few billion.  After hundreds of hours of yapping like those little dogs that rich people carry around.

Or we could pull out of Iraq tomorrow afternoon about 2:15 and save another what?  Billion or two per day??

The past is a sunk cost.  Should never have been spent that way to begin with, but it is over and now we can stop a huge hemorrhage easily.  Leave Iraq.

And while we are at it, close half of the bases we have on Okinawa.  That would save many more billions.  Pretty soon, you have saved much more than shutting down thousands of these little nickel and dime events.  And much more quickly.  Like instantly.

Or lose that second fighter jet engine program that the Republicans just had put back into the latest defense spending bill.  There is a wasted $3 billion + just on that one line item.

And I bet the US Military is way more than capable of handling all that support BS that has been contracted out to places like Halliburton for a tiny fraction of the cost.  And I bet they can handle the logistics of fuel procurement at way less that the $10 or 20 per gallon Halliburton gets.   Another $50 billion savings. 

Conan,
Your conclusion is impeccable!  Every dollar wasted is multiplied because not only is it a dollar wasted on the item that it is spent on, it is another dollar that the deserving cause does not receive.  In very real terms that leverages to 2 dollars wasted.  Public education AT ALL LEVELS has been proven over and over and over to be the absolute best investment ours, or any society, can make!  The return on trade school training or college education support repays itself so many times over and over the numbers become lost in the ages - continuing through an entire lifetime of work, contribution to the economy, society, and the the tax base.  We just don't.... No, that isn't correct - some sections of society just don't understand.  And sadly, probably never will.