Government Controlled Businesses

           The democrats spent one billion dollars of your money on the Cash for Clunkers program and that was supposed to sustain it until November. It ran out of money in a week. President Obama wants government control of the healthcare industry and he promises that you will get better service at no cost to the middle class. There is an old saying, if something is too good to be true, it probably isn’t. This is doubly so when politicians promise you something. We’ve seen how badly Congress ran the minuscule Clunkers program, let’s take a look at how the government runs other businesses they control.

            United States Postal Service

Congress has mandated that only the post office may deliver first-class mail. In addition they also deliver packages. The current Postmaster General is paid $265,000 a year but both he and congress are unable to devise a way to eke a profit from their government guaranteed business. Therefore, you the taxpayer, give them hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Meanwhile businesses such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express are doing just fine without a dime of your tax money.

Amtrak

The Cato Institute reports that Amtrak has received more than $13 billion of federal subsidies since 1972, but it is an incredibly unprofitable endeavor. The taxpayer subsidy is about $100 per Amtrak passenger. The head of Amtrak has a salary in excess of $158,000, but neither he, nor congress, are able to get the trains to run on time or profitably.

Congress can’t manage their own budget, the post office or Amtrak. They can’t even mange the sale of used cars, why should I trust them with my health?

Update on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 1:13PM by Kyle Pratt

When the White House asked for Americans to report what their neighbors were saying in casual conversations, emails and on the web regarding government healthcare policy, I forwarded this article to the President at flag@whitehouse.gov .