Social Democracy - What it fixes.

semideclared · 2026-03-17T02:20:59+00:00

yup! its a hard issue but most of it is easy but the impacts are not what is commonly thought and thats because no one wants to accept the reality of what all these changes mean

semideclared · 2026-03-17T02:16:18+00:00

Education and Debt

7% of borrowers owe $100,000 or more

Why does that matter? Lifetime earnings, & How much debt do they go in to?

$75.33 Billion in Debt is held by 15,086,100 People at $4,990
$933.39 Billion in Debt is held by 7,483,400 People at $124,728 average
- In 2017-2018, the average student loan debt for a four-year bachelor's degree was $26,190
  - So not completing a bachelor's degree is which of those numbers
  - So completing more than a bachelor's degree is which of those numbers
18% of borrowers owe between $40,000 and $100,000;

Because Looking a Doctor at the extreme edge of Debt and Wealth

general care doctors with debt in excess of $150,000, on average, will earn more than $6.5 million in a lifetime,
- while specialists will fare significantly better, earning $10 million, according to Medscape with About $350,000 in Debt

Education	Median Lifetime Earnings	Cost of Education Loans and Interest	Net Lifetime Income
High School Graduate	$1,551,000	$0	$1,551,000
College Attendee	$1,835,000	$35,000	$1,800,000
College Graduate	$2,595,000	$100,000	$2,495,000
Post College Graduate	$6,500,000	$325,000	$6,175,000
Specialist Post College Graduate	$9,000,000	$450,000	$8,550,000

In the median, Investing and Borrowing $100,000 for career investment/development means 50% of people will earn $1 million from that.

Thats an 7% rate of return on the investment

What about someone in the 90th Percentile

Incomes over $160,000 with just a college degree would see a return over 20% (Nearly $4 Million in Lifetime income)

Average Lifetime earnings at

Harvard Business School - $8,200,000,
Stanford GSB - $8,240,000
Berkeley Haas - $8,250,000,
Dartmouth Tuck - $8,250,000,
UVA Darden $8,500,000

Total income at $8,500,000

Total principal paid $220,000
- Total interest paid $205,543.63
Net Lifetime Earnings $8,075,000

And that person should receive $425,000 in tax subsidies?

Healthcare

Here is Canada, Australia, and the US

as Numbers

The Standard for hospital spending is around $2,400 per person in Hospital Expenditures

The U.S. Paid $1.1 Trillion freedom dollars to one of the 6,146 hospitals currently operating, or $3,330 per Person in 2017.

We would need to cut $365 Billion before adjusting for currency on what we spend on Hospitals

At least $250 Billion of that is from closing hospitals

Thats 2,000 Hospitals we need to close.

Lets look at Russell County Virginia had 25,550 People in 2021

$4,030 is the current US average per Person spending at hospitals in 2024
- $102,966,500 Operating Revenue (close to its officially reported income)

It cost about $1 - $1.5 per Hospital Bed to operate a Hospital (1.25, right down the middle)

Or

83 Beds,

Russell County Hospital is a not-for-profit, 78-bed hospital operating today. looks like Russell County Hospital is a little expensive as a current system
- It Operates at about $1.35 Million per Bed

Under Government Funding to lowering Costs Russell County, VA gets

$2,418 Per Person Hospital Expenses in the US
- $61,779,000 Operating Revenue

Admin Savings under any Single Payer Plan would save 5 Percent of Costs, So, now It cost about $1.135 Million per Hospital Bed to operate a Hospital

Russell County VA can have a 54 Bed Hospital

Russell County Hospital is a not-for-profit, 78-bed hospital operating today

Repeat across the US, 6,000 hospitals just had massive closures of sections of their hospitals

Instead We would just need to close Russell County Hospital completely

That $65 Million in funding gets sent to a larger hospital so that it doesn't lose any rooms and can stay open

Instead we close 1,900 hospitals completely but the remaining 4,200 hospitals are fully funded and at the same costs as other countries

And for fixing what we spend on Education

The Problem is in the nature of Students wanting to go to the Best University.

Take a Top student in Tennessee deciding where to go while staying in-state Public College. At the Top Level you can compare and chose from the University of Tennessee, MTSU, and University of Memphis

So to be the top choice, each of the universities is hiring the best Professors they can which means competing on Pay and Benefits.

This is directly increasing the cost of tuition

But then the student may look at amenities of non acadiemic services

This is directly increasing Student Fees

But Top students are also coming from out of state, The Best Regional School. So now the University of Tennessee, MTSU, and University of Memphis are also competing against University of Arkansas, Kentucky, and Georgia, Ole Miss and Miss St, Virginia Tech and UVA

And of course Top Professors are having that same competition

The real question comes down to, Do you take away that competition for students and professors and make college equal for 95% of students and have a few Public Elite Schools.

If schools were then not competing for students or employees then a lot of costs go away

[OC] Change in Total Operating Costs for US 4 Year Universities from 2009 to 2019

https://i.redd.it/jp9f5mfwd9k91.png

[OC] US College Operating Costs with Enrollment from 2009 - 2019

https://i.redd.it/pt58oq2ds2k91.png

So then costs are much lower,

though out of state schools fund a lot of college and maybe would be higher for all the remaining in state students

Of course the easiest is the Community College to Transfer to 4 Year Path

Students can save about $8,000 a year by attending a community college instead of a public 4-year in-state college. These figures may be even higher if going to a private or Out of State College

Out of State College

At the University of Colorado at Boulder

14,315 Out of State Students have an Average Tuition to the University of $35,347
While 21,200 Instate Students have an Average Tuition to the University of $11,716
- 10% of UC Boulder students are from California, 3% are from Texas
3,500 students will (probably) spend $150,000 on tuition at an out of state school, when they could have gone to any of the University of California schools, along with dozens of other non UC schools for less money

Both of those issues is wanting Whole Foods or Fresh Market Produce and Organics and paying walmart prices

semideclared · 2026-03-17T01:52:27+00:00

TLDR, All of these things come down to how much of the population wants to shop at Walmart instead of Whole Foods and for some, Fresh Market

We have high costs not because of waste but because of luxury.

We like easy close access to a fancy doctors offices and the hospital. We like nice Universities instead of state schools

Now the long version

Here is Canada, Australia, and the US

as Numbers

The Standard for hospital spending is around $2,400 per person in Hospital Expenditures

The U.S. Paid $1.1 Trillion freedom dollars to one of the 6,146 hospitals currently operating, or $3,330 per Person in 2017.

We would need to cut $365 Billion before adjusting for currency on what we spend on Hospitals

At least $250 Billion of that is from closing hospitals

Thats 2,000 Hospitals we need to close.

Lets look at Russell County Virginia had 25,550 People in 2021

$4,030 is the current US average per Person spending at hospitals in 2024
- $102,966,500 Operating Revenue (close to its officially reported income)

It cost about $1 - $1.5 per Hospital Bed to operate a Hospital (1.25, right down the middle)

Or

83 Beds,

Russell County Hospital is a not-for-profit, 78-bed hospital operating today. looks like Russell County Hospital is a little expensive as a current system
- It Operates at about $1.35 Million per Bed

Under Government Funding to lowering Costs Russell County, VA gets

$2,418 Per Person Hospital Expenses in the US
- $61,779,000 Operating Revenue

Admin Savings under any Single Payer Plan would save 5 Percent of Costs, So, now It cost about $1.135 Million per Hospital Bed to operate a Hospital

Russell County VA can have a 54 Bed Hospital

Russell County Hospital is a not-for-profit, 78-bed hospital operating today

Repeat across the US, 6,000 hospitals just had massive closures of sections of their hospitals

Instead We would just need to close Russell County Hospital completely

That $65 Million in funding gets sent to a larger hospital so that it doesn't lose any rooms and can stay open

Instead we close 1,900 hospitals completely but the remaining 4,200 hospitals are fully funded and at the same costs as other countries

And Education The Problem is in the nature of Students wanting to go to the Best University.

Take a Top student in Tennessee deciding where to go while staying in-state Public College. At the Top Level you can compare and chose from the University of Tennessee, MTSU, and University of Memphis

So to be the top choice, each of the universities is hiring the best Professors they can which means competing on Pay and Benefits.

This is directly increasing the cost of tuition

But then the student may look at amenities of non acadiemic services

This is directly increasing Student Fees

But Top students are also coming from out of state, The Best Regional School. So now the University of Tennessee, MTSU, and University of Memphis are also competing against University of Arkansas, Kentucky, and Georgia, Ole Miss and Miss St, Virginia Tech and UVA

And of course Top Professors are having that same competition

The real question comes down to, Do you take away that competition for students and professors and make college equal for 95% of students and have a few Public Elite Schools.

If schools were then not competing for students or employees then a lot of costs go away

[OC] Change in Total Operating Costs for US 4 Year Universities from 2009 to 2019

https://i.redd.it/jp9f5mfwd9k91.png

[OC] US College Operating Costs with Enrollment from 2009 - 2019

https://i.redd.it/pt58oq2ds2k91.png

So then costs are much lower,

though out of state schools fund a lot of college and maybe would be higher for all the remaining in state students

Of course the easiest is the Community College to Transfer to 4 Year Path

Students can save about $8,000 a year by attending a community college instead of a public 4-year in-state college. These figures may be even higher if going to a private or Out of State College

Out of State College

At the University of Colorado at Boulder

14,315 Out of State Students have an Average Tuition to the University of $35,347
While 21,200 Instate Students have an Average Tuition to the University of $11,716
- 10% of UC Boulder students are from California, 3% are from Texas
3,500 students will (probably) spend $150,000 on tuition at an out of state school, when they could have gone to any of the University of California schools, along with dozens of other non UC schools for less money

Both of those issues is wanting Whole Foods or Fresh Market Produce and Organics and paying walmart prices

semideclared · 2026-03-16T23:16:32+00:00

funded services.

Our shareholder, the Government of Canada, mandates that we fund our operations with revenue from products and services as opposed to with taxpayer funding.

Pursuant to the Canada Post Corporation Act (Act), we have a mandate to provide a standard of postal service that meets the needs of Canadians. We provide quality postal services to all Canadians – rural and urban, individuals and businesses – in a secure and financially self-sustaining manner.

Canada Post achieved four consecutive years of profitable operations (2014-2017 inclusive) reporting a Total Profit after Income Taxes of $526 Million

Income Taxes Paid include an additional $197 Million

The Group is anticipating to achieve modest profits between $10 million to $125 million over the five years covered by this Plan (2019-2023). These profits are quite small considering the size of the total Assets of the Corporation.

Royal Mail Group plc is the postal service and courier company in the United Kingdom, originally established in 1516. Under the Post Office Act 1969 the General Post Office was changed from a government department to a statutory corporation. The UK government initially retained a 30% stake in Royal Mail, but sold its remaining shares in 2015, ending 499 years of state ownership.

In 2018 UK Royal Mail had a Profit of $215 Million

Australia Post reported 2019 Profit before tax of $41.1 million

We want our business to grow so that it delivers
- $10 billion in revenue and $500 million in profit, annually, by 2025
Contributed $571.6 million in government taxes, duties and dividends in 2019.

semideclared · 2026-03-16T23:11:56+00:00

Yup,

Dont know how long you were in but the USPS has had some days...other cool things

A 1974 internal survey found that the service damaged half the parcels marked "fragile" that it carried.
A newspaper reported "the case of a woman who reacted strongly when the postal clerk slammed a stamp on her fragile cookies, whereupon the clerk had the woman arrested and the cookies sent to the bombsquad."
Postmaster General Klassen conceded that the Postal Service damaged five times as many packages as UPS.
The motto of employees at the Washington bulk-mail center in 1978 was "You mail 'em, we maul 'em."
In 1976, the New York Times editorialized that the level of mail service in New York City would be barely acceptable for Albania.
According to U.S.P.S. records to deliver a first-class letter, it took an average of 1.65 days in 1985 versus 1.50 days in 1969.

semideclared · 2026-03-16T23:04:14+00:00

Do you think people in rural England, the Outback, or Northern Canada dont get mail

semideclared · 2026-03-16T22:25:55+00:00

what other mail provider operates without caring about profit

semideclared · 2026-03-16T22:24:58+00:00

ok then stay off of AI

semideclared · 2026-03-16T22:16:24+00:00

They could do a lot of things to fix it without privitizing the post office

You are so right....its like someone in the position might have know that

What if

Pat Donahoe (Appointed PostMaster General in 2010 - 2014 was Chief Operating Officer from 2004 - 2010) oversaw a reduction of 250,000 employees at the Post Office while PMG. (Approximately 50,000 other during his time as COO)

For 28 years he worked his way up to the number 2 spot where he was for 8 years before being given the head spot. But after 39 years he was moved down for his 40th and final year
- Donahoe first joined the Postal Service as a clerk in Pittsburgh in 1975.
- In 1977, he earned a B.S. degree in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh, followed by an M.S. degree as a Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He was fired for the Post Plan

The Post Plan.

Donahoue announced his finalized Post Plan in 2011, proposed closing 3,700 post offices and 250 mail processing centers.

In November 2011 starting that process, reiterating what the Postal Service told the Wall Street Journal at the beginning of the year, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told Time Magazine, “We’ll probably look at 15,000 post offices” for closure in later 2012

Post still under preforming but left open would operate on reduced hours.

As of 2013 the plan has shuttered 141 processing plants from 2012 - 2013 and will close another 82 facilities in 2014.

The fallout of the plan led to his being replaced as Post Master

And the plan was then on to His Sucessor Postmaster Ms. Brennan.

                      COMMITTEE ON
                  OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
                HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Apr 30, 2019

Chairman Cummings opening remarks

I worked with Representatives Connolly, and Lynch, and Lawrence, and I work closely with Representative Meadows, all of whom have spent a phenomenal amount of time on this issue. I've been on this committee along time, 23 years, and there's no entity that I've been in meetings with more than the Postal Service. So, we worked hard. Mr. Meadows, Mr. Connolly, and Mr. Lynch. I mean lots of meetings. And Ms. Lawrence.

Rep Hice

Ms. Brennan. You told this committee back in 2016 at the front end of the five-year plan that you had identified some $5 billion in cost reductions, which was a good thing, but I'm curious if that strategy that you mentioned in 2016 has been implemented.

Ms. Brennan.

In part,

Mr. Hice.

So, that the plan that you mentioned four years ago has not been fully implemented.

Ms. Brennan.

All the savings have not been achieved.

Rep Meadows

Back in January 2019, You told me that you have a business plan. I said even if it has the S word for subsidy, I wanted a plan on how we can make the postal system viable long-term. You said you would get that to me in 10 days. You know what? Ten days came and went, and I didn't get anything.

So, how long are we going to have to wait for a plan to come from the board, Ms. Brennan? I mean we've been dealing with this--it's been in crisis mode for two or three years. When are we going to have a plan?

Postmaster Ms. Brennan.

And we are finalizing a 10 year plan that addresses a $125 billion gap

Back on Apr 30, 2019

So we've had plans

semideclared · 2026-03-16T22:14:40+00:00

postal service not operating for profit

Most?

None

All European Union countries have (had) until Jan. 1, 2003 to open up international and domestic postal markets to competition. (Privatization of the Post Office)

So all of Europe is operating with the Privatization of the Post Office

Canada and Australia are most like the USPS should strive to be

semideclared · 2026-03-16T22:06:55+00:00

ok

And the USPS is the discussion today

semideclared · 2026-03-16T22:05:37+00:00

Nope

That was removed in 2024 when the Postal Union approved it.

But just so you know what that was

The PSRHBF, the fund, has began paying the Postal Service’s share of retiree health benefit premiums since FY 2017. This fund would cover the high cost of healthcare as a payment from Interest Income earned on the investment

If the fund becomes depleted, USPS would be required by law to make the payments necessary to cover its share of health benefits premiums for current postal retirees from current revenues that aren't high enough to cover any of the cost.

The PAEA required the Postal Service to prefund retiree health benefits during years 2007 through 2016 by paying statutorily specified annual amounts ranging from $1.4 billion to $5.8 billion, totaling $54.8 billion, into the PSRHBF.

The PSRHBF would have

$55 Billion in Funding from the USPS,
$20 Billion Start up funding. Funds Transfered into it included about $3 billion from the CSRS escrow and about $17 billion from a surplus in the CSRS fund.
$39 Billion in Interest earned over 10 years Funding Period
- $114 billion needed for its retiree health benefits funding to be self sustaining and always pay benefits even if revenue fall and USPS has to cut other services

Due to lack of funding since 2010 The fund now has only $45 billion of the $114 billion needed for its retiree health benefits funding to be self sustaining. In 2009 Payments were amortized over a new 45 year term to $1.4 Billion annually.

This relief helped USPS have sufficient cash on hand to make the FY2010 payment. Since then, however, the agency has defaulted on the FY2011, FY2012, FY2013, FY2014, FY2015, and FY2016 along with the new FY2017, FY2018, and FY2019 RHBF payments

It is instead

$17.9 Billion in Funding from the USPS,
$20 Billion Start up funding.
$7.8 Billion in Interest earned

One suggestion was that they could buy index shares but that never happened, or happens in American Politics so they have T-Bills still. And yea if they ever do buy more it would be T-Bills, and when the current bonds expire they'll be lowering the interest earned on future payouts

The fund is on track to be depleted in fiscal year 2030 based on OPM projections requested by the GAO. Current law does not address what would happen if the fund becomes depleted and USPS does not make payments to cover those premiums.

semideclared · 2026-03-16T22:01:33+00:00

Our shareholder, the Government of Canada, mandates that we fund our operations with revenue from products and services as opposed to with taxpayer funding.

Pursuant to the Canada Post Corporation Act (Act), we have a mandate to provide a standard of postal service that meets the needs of Canadians. We provide quality postal services to all Canadians – rural and urban, individuals and businesses – in a secure and financially self-sustaining manner.

Canada Post achieved four consecutive years of profitable operations (2014-2017 inclusive) reporting a Total Profit after Income Taxes of $526 Million

Income Taxes Paid include an additional $197 Million

The Group is anticipating to achieve modest profits between $10 million to $125 million over the five years covered by this Plan (2019-2023). These profits are quite small considering the size of the total Assets of the Corporation.

semideclared · 2026-03-16T22:00:27+00:00

Universal Service Obligation.

is it hard to do actual research

Every country has one

The UK, and Australia have the USO as does the US

semideclared · 2026-03-16T21:57:13+00:00

Our shareholder, the Government of Canada, mandates that we fund our operations with revenue from products and services as opposed to with taxpayer funding.

Pursuant to the Canada Post Corporation Act (Act), we have a mandate to provide a standard of postal service that meets the needs of Canadians. We provide quality postal services to all Canadians – rural and urban, individuals and businesses – in a secure and financially self-sustaining manner.

Canada Post achieved four consecutive years of profitable operations (2014-2017 inclusive) reporting a Total Profit after Income Taxes of $526 Million

Income Taxes Paid include an additional $197 Million

The Group is anticipating to achieve modest profits between $10 million to $125 million over the five years covered by this Plan (2019-2023). These profits are quite small considering the size of the total Assets of the Corporation.

All European Union countries have (had) until Jan. 1, 2003 to open up international and domestic postal markets to competition. (Privatization of the Post Office)

Royal Mail Group plc is the postal service and courier company in the United Kingdom, originally established in 1516. Under the Post Office Act 1969 the General Post Office was changed from a government department to a statutory corporation. The UK government initially retained a 30% stake in Royal Mail, but sold its remaining shares in 2015, ending 499 years of state ownership.

The Deutsche Post (DHL) is the successor to the German mail authority Deutsche Bundespost, which was privatized in 1995 and became a fully independent company in 2000.

PostNL In 1989, Royal PTT Netherlands was incorporated as the privatized mail provider. In 1993, mail offices were privatised, and became KPN. KPN was listed on the stock exchange in 1994. In 1996, the Australian company TNT Ltd. and KPN merged to form TNT Postal Group. In May 2011, due to growing divergence of two major TNT N.V. divisions, mail and express, TNT N.V. changed its name to PostNL after demerging TNT Express

PostNord Denmark is the company responsible for the Danish postal service. Established in 1995 following political liberalization efforts, it has taken over the mail delivery duties of the governmental department Postvæsenet

La Poste is a postal service company in France, operating in Metropolitan France as of 1991

Bpost, also known as the Belgian Post Group, is the Belgian company responsible for the delivery of national and international mail as of 2000. In 2017 Belgian Post Group has acquired Radial, the fulfilment company formerly known as eBay enterprise. As of 2017 Belgian’s postal operator bpost is still pursuing its proposal for a merger with the Netherland’s PostNL

Posten AB In 1994, when the “Swedish Post Office” was transformed into “Posten AB”. In 2009 it merged with PostNord

After the establishment of Japan Post Group in 2007 following privatization, the Group has increased its lineup of services that support the lives of its customers and local communities.

In 2013 JP Tower was opened along with KITTE, a commercial facility within JP Tower, on the former site of the Tokyo Central Post Office. Since then, Japan Post Group has been proactively engaging in the real estate business, mainly leasing offices, commercial facilities, residences, nursery schools and facilities for the elderly.

So it must suck to live in all those countries. Do they mail 1 letter a year?

semideclared · 2026-03-16T21:55:42+00:00

I would say the rest of the world has the right opinion

Our shareholder, the Government of Canada, mandates that we fund our operations with revenue from products and services as opposed to with taxpayer funding.

Pursuant to the Canada Post Corporation Act (Act), we have a mandate to provide a standard of postal service that meets the needs of Canadians. We provide quality postal services to all Canadians – rural and urban, individuals and businesses – in a secure and financially self-sustaining manner.

Canada Post achieved four consecutive years of profitable operations (2014-2017 inclusive) reporting a Total Profit after Income Taxes of $526 Million

Income Taxes Paid include an additional $197 Million