someone who makes $60,000-$125,000 a year is going to bitch about someone only making $16,000 a year paying $1 a month for health coverage? I'd rather make $60,000 and pay the freakin' $482.

And I'm not going to pretend like I know everything about how hospitals and insurance work, but going to the ER uninsured does not equal free hospital visits, illegal immigrant or not.

Why does everyone complain about helping the lower class? It is barbaric and narcissistic to say "I don't want my taxes to help illegals and homeless people".

The only people who have the right to say they don't want to help illegals are people of 100% native American decent and are incapable of becoming homeless. It reality every white person in the country, including me, are illegal because white people INVADED this continent and claimed it as our own.

I agree. People I know who have welfare/ food stamps/ disability have it because they need it. They don't drive fancy cars or sit on their asses and smoke crack. Many people get these "handouts" in addition to having a job, or trying to find a job. It's not easy for those born without privilege to succeed despite what many think.

someone who makes $60,000-$125,000 a year is going to bitch about someone only making $16,000 a year paying $1 a month for health coverage? I'd rather make $60,000 and pay the freakin' $482.

And I'm not going to pretend like I know everything about how hospitals and insurance work, but going to the ER uninsured does not equal free hospital visits, illegal immigrant or not.

I agree. People I know who have welfare/ food stamps/ disability have it because they need it. They don't drive fancy cars or sit on their asses and smoke crack. Many people get these "handouts" in addition to having a job, or trying to find a job. It's not easy for those born without privilege to succeed despite what many think.

Totally true. There are abuses here and there, but there is with any system... you don't throw something away because it's not perfect. that attitude reminds me of people who will throw away an apple because there is a tiny blemish on it, instead of cutting out the offending part and eating the rest. You will find by and large, the people bitching about this are all making plenty of money to make ends meet, they just want to live some kind of luxurious lifestyle while someone else dies in the gutter. Just yesterday, there was a guy calling Dave Ramsey's show, and he was having trouble making his budget and meeting his expenses... when Dave asked him how much he made, the response was "220,000$ a year". PLEASE. His "vacation house" had become a financial burden, and he acting like this was such a problem for him. POOR THING.

Alphanguy, I'm glad that you're pleased with the USPS, but people are willing to pay UPS and FEDEX prices because the perception exists that they are more efficient than the USPS. UPS and FEDEX must be doing something right, because they are making a profit, while the USPS lost $5 billion in 2013.

I personally have become very dissatisfied with my own mailman, because he now delivers the mail after 7 P.M. every night (sometimes after 8 P.M.). I see this inefficiency as a huge waste of my tax dollars, because the mail always used to come at around 3 or 4 P.M. Perhaps some of this sharp decline in service is due to the "evil" GOP House not giving the USPS all the money it wants. But the years of massive losses (and subsequent service declines) go beyond budgetary constraints; the USPS has lost a lot of revenue due to people choosing UPS or FEDEX.

Honestly, I don't think that somebody in rural America having to drive 25 miles to get and receive their mail is a tremendous hardship. Rural life has a lot of advantages, but one of the big disadvantages is that one is so far away from places of convenience such as the supermarket. While it would be impractical for many to drive 25 miles each day, making the trip a few times a week really isn't a major inconvenience. (As with being far away from a supermarket, I just see it as one of the negative aspects of rural life.)

And the fact that the USPS seems to have an office in each small town is another reason why it is losing so much money. Now, I don't know if this is true everywhere, but in Cape Cod, MA (where my family vacations) a post office is open year round in each town, even though most towns have few year-round residents. It would make a lot more sense to place the postal offices in just the larger towns like Orleans, Hyannis, and Falmouth.

There is a certain amount that can be cut from local post offices, but it needs to be based on mileage, not population. Like for instance, I would close any small rural post office if there is another one in a town close by that is less than 10 miles away. But you still would have your home delivery, etc... The postal servie has worked just fine for well over 100 years, so it's a good system, but needs help and adjustment due to the age of the internet and reduced volume of mail. It has been determined that 63 cents is what is needed to bring them back into the black. They just need to do it! And 25 miles is a BIG hardship, especially with gasoline at over 3$ a gallon, in rural areas, you do NOT have to drive 25 miles to get to a grocery store or gas station, but you DO to get to a facility that ships FEDEX or UPS. And when it comes to a basic first class letter, FEDEX won't do something like that for less than 2$, i can guarantee you. This article lines it out pretty well:

http://www.cfra.org/ruralmonitor/2012/11/29/rural-post-offices-prepare-reduction-hours

Edited January 8, 201411 yr by alphanguy74

The poor smoke cigarettes so the governtments slap on oppressive taxes aimed at taking money expressly from the poor.

Why do you suppose the poor smoke? It is so expensive! Then it hurts their health and burdens the healthcare system even more. Perhaps some of the cigarette tax money ought to go to the health care system.

Why do you suppose the poor smoke? It is so expensive! Then it hurts their health and burdens the healthcare system even more. Perhaps some of the cigarette tax money ought to go to the health care system.

to self medicate. The reduce the anxiety over their situation in life.

Alphanguy, I'm glad that you're pleased with the USPS, but people are willing to pay UPS and FEDEX prices because the perception exists that they are more efficient than the USPS. UPS and FEDEX must be doing something right, because they are making a profit, while the USPS lost $5 billion in 2013.

Honestly, I don't think that somebody in rural America having to drive 25 miles to get and receive their mail is a tremendous hardship. Rural life has a lot of advantages, but one of the big disadvantages is that one is so far away from places of convenience such as the supermarket. While it would be impractical for many to drive 25 miles each day, making the trip a few times a week really isn't a major inconvenience. (As with being far away from a supermarket, I just see it as one of the negative aspects of rural life.)

Max, I was just throwing the 25 mile figure out there because I assumed that you would find a fedex location in every county, shich in Missouri, the centers of the counties are more of less 25 miles apart. I was VERY wrong. While there are fedex drop boxes for envelopes in more places, FEDEX locations where you can acutally ship a package are FAR less frequent. Out of Missouri's 114 counties, only TWLEVE counties contain a FEDEX shipping store. If you want to send a package via FEDEX and live in the middle of the Ozarks, you would have to drive 140 miles to do so. So you can see why the Postal service is vital to rural america.