{"id":434187,"date":"2021-04-20T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T14:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=434187"},"modified":"2021-04-20T10:01:03","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T14:01:03","slug":"data-debunks-ocasio-cortezs-claim-that-americans-need-postal-banking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/data-debunks-ocasio-cortezs-claim-that-americans-need-postal-banking\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Debunks Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s Claim That Americans Need \u2018Postal Banking\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdata-debunks-ocasio-cortezs-claim-that-americans-need-postal-banking%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=434187&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-2748.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her Democratic colleagues, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), on Thursday unveiled a \u201cpostal banking\u201d bill that would<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/the-postal-service-is-awesome-we-love-the-postal-service-aoc-makes-the-progressive-case-for-expanding-the-usps\"> expand the United States Postal Service<\/a>. Ocasio-Cortez suggested the agency\u2019s expansion would fix a host of issues for low-income Americans in both urban and rural areas.<\/p>\n<p>The bill is likely to cause more harm than good.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why expand an agency that\u2019s failing financially?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The USPS has long been a thorn in taxpayers\u2019 side as it hemorrhages money year-after-year. According to a General Accountability Office (GAO) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/highrisk\/usps-financial-viability#:~:text=USPS's%20quarterly%20and%20annual%20financial,webcasts%20on%20its%20financial%20results.\">report<\/a>, the agency lost a total of \u201c$87 billion over the last 14 fiscal years \u2013 including $9.2 billion in fiscal years 2020.\u201d The agency expects to lose an additional \u201c$9.7 billion in fiscal year 2021,\u201d despite a $2 billion increase in revenue and an uptick in package deliveries due to the pandemic,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/adamandrzejewski\/2021\/02\/20\/why-the-us-post-office-is-in-trouble--678539-employees-and-a-92-billion-loss-in-2020\/?sh=6fbc9580314e\">Forbes<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p>According to University of Notre Dame Management Professor James O\u2019Rourke, the agency\u2019s financial shortfalls have to do with a Congressional pre-funding requirement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reason the postal service is losing money is because of a congressionally mandated retirement healthcare funding program that no other government agency is required to observe,\u201d O\u2019Rourke told <a href=\"https:\/\/news.nd.edu\/news\/postal-service-losing-money-because-of-congressional-mandate-not-low-prices-expert-says\/\">Notre Name News<\/a> last year. \u201cThis creates a $6.5 billion annual shortfall that could easily be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under this requirement, the USPS is required to pay for its retiree pension \u201cfor retirees up to 75 years in the future,\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.govexec.com\/pay-benefits\/2020\/02\/house-votes-end-controversial-usps-payments-future-retirees-health-care\/162912\/\"> Government Executiv<\/a>e reported. \u201cIn fiscal 2019, for example, 83% of the $8.8 billion the agency lost came from payments into its retiree pension fund and retiree health benefits fund.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The USPS is the only government agency to have this kind of requirement in place, O\u2019Rourke said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The USPS can\u2019t deliver the services it already offers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As it currently stands, the USPS\u2019 primary function is to transport mail and packages from point A to point B in a timely manner. The <a href=\"https:\/\/facts.usps.com\/size-and-scope\/\">agency<\/a> can\u2019t do that despite serving more than 41,000 zip codes, having more than 31,000 retail offices, and roughly a half-million employees.<\/p>\n<p>The agency\u2019s inability to deliver mail to customers in a designated timeframe is having a drastic impact on Americans across the country. It\u2019s also causing the USPS\u2019 demise to spiral even further.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsumers are inundating members of Congress with stories of late bills \u2014 and the late fees they\u2019ve absorbed as a result. Small-business owners are waiting weeks, even months, for checks to arrive, creating cash-flow crunches and debates on whether to switch to costlier private shippers,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2021\/02\/26\/usps-delays-bills-medications\/\">The Washington Post<\/a> reported. \u201cLarge-scale mailers, such as banks and utilities, are urging clients to switch to paperless communication, a shift that would further<b>\u00a0<\/b>undercut the agency\u2019s biggest revenue stream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other Americans rely on the mail for medications, meaning \u201cdelays can be a matter of life and death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A cat rescue in Hawaii needed medication for a rescue named Naya, who developed a disease from \u201ca kind of fatal, feline coronavirus,\u201d The New York Times reported. The only way to obtain the medication in time was through a black market drug store.<\/p>\n<p>Rescue volunteer Daniela Stlfi-Tow ordered the medication on three different occasions. The first two packages were mailed through USPS, although they were stuck in two different locations: New York and California. The third medication actually made it to the rescue but it was delivered via FedEx.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just cried. I was just like, \u2018Oh, my God, you saved her life,\u2019\u201d Stolfi-Tow recounted to the Times. \u201cIt\u2019s appalling to me that the government has not stepped in and said, \u2018Hey, get it together or stop taking packages until you can deal with whatever the problem is.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Virginia resident Brenda Cook shared a similar USPS-related issue with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wavy.com\/news\/local-news\/chesapeake\/i-am-frustrated-for-my-community-mail-delivery-problems-persist-in-chesapeake\/\">WAVY-TV.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Every day Cook receives an email from the USPS\u2019 informed delivery program. An email on March 31 showed her stimulus check in the mail but it was never delivered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had my stimulus check scanned in on the 31st but they have not delivered it,\u201d Cook said on April 9.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI talked to my friend down my street, her mom has not received her insulin and her mom is not able to go out to a doctor. Everything comes there,\u201d Cook said. \u201cThis can be dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chicago resident Lorraine Sardin had a story similar to Cook\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Sardin went two weeks without receiving mail while she was waiting for her social security cards and stimulus check.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s how I pay my carrying charges, my lights, gas, you know. Things like that. And that keeps me going. And for me not to get it is drastic for me,\u201d Sardin told <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/usps-chicago-mail-lost-no-delivery\/10331118\/\">ABC 7.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Because more Americans turned to online ordering through the pandemic, there are likely thousands more stories like these.<\/p>\n<p><b>There\u2019s not a significant need for \u201cbanking\u201d at the post office.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>During Thursday\u2019s press conference, Ocasio-Cortez stated \u201cmillions\u201d of Americans were likely to use \u201cpostal banking\u201d because of fees associated with check cashing businesses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many families I see go in and they can\u2019t afford to be banked. Think about that, how many millions of people in this country that either can\u2019t afford to be banked or struggle to be banked,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so they\u2019ll show up to a check cashing place. Imagine cashing your stimulus check for $1,400 and having 10% to 20% of that check taken away from you. Those are diapers. That\u2019s baby formula. And that\u2019s food that is taken out of the hands of the families just to cash a check.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite that, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdic.gov\/analysis\/household-survey\/index.html\">2019 study<\/a> from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), found that \u201cNearly 95 percent of U.S. households (approximately 124 million households) were\u00a0banked (i.e., had a bank or credit union account).\u00a0This is the highest number and percentage of households with bank accounts since the survey was first conducted in 2009.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those who do not have banks make up 5.4% of the country, the FDIC study concluded, which translates to 7.1 million households.<\/p>\n<p>But the reason people don\u2019t have banks, especially in the Bronx, isn\u2019t because they can\u2019t find banks. It\u2019s because of the instant need for cash.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they have deposited that check in the bank, it would take three or four days to clear,\u201d Lisa Servon, a University of Pennsylvania professor studying urban poverty, told<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/show\/surprising-logic-behind-use-check-cashers-payday-loans\"> PBS<\/a> in 2017. \u201cWhen they come here, they can use that cash right away. And they won\u2019t be subject to the kind of mistiming at a bank that could lead to an overdraft fee of $35.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The bottom line<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The United States Postal Service needs to address its glaring issues \u2013 like its solvency and delivery times \u2013 before a conversation about expanding services takes place. The American people deserve to address this issue<em> if<\/em> and <em>when<\/em> the USPS proves they can be profitable and deliver mail in a timely fashion. Assuming that day finally comes, we can then talk about the lack of need for the very services Ocasio-Cortez and her colleagues are calling for.<\/p>\n<p><em>Beth Baumann is a Political Reporter and Editor at The Daily Wire. Follow her on Twitter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eb454\">@eb454<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><i>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her Democratic colleagues, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), on Thursday unveiled a \u201cpostal banking\u201d bill that would &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2276235,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-2748.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Data Debunks Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s Claim That Americans Need \u2018Postal Banking\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-434187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-2748.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Data Debunks Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s Claim That Americans Need \u2018Postal Banking\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2276235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}