Monday, December 23, 2013

Truth & consequences


 Actions have consequences, intended, or not. The statement of discovery, below, is a solid insight into how our politicians in Washington time and again hold themselves above the law. And, our democracy depends on law to see to it that democracy actually works. It’s sort of that way by design. 

Now, on matters political, Mrs. Feinstein has held a fairly good record throughout her tenure. When we, the electorate, see one of our elected officials falling over into the dark side, we have a Constitutional duty to send said politician packing. This is the biggest argument for term limits at every level of governance. The longer they stay glued to seats in Washington, the more insidious the greed becomes, and deals like the one mentioned below take place without the batting of an eyelash. On the matter of Blum/Feinstein being “two public service crooks, I believe the Blum side of the equation is in the privet sector, not the public sector.
 
But, all that aside, let’s get to the core of the argument. You may start by asking, “Why would a commercial, private sector company want a barrel full of old Post Office buildings?” Start by looking back in time when the USPS was at the top of its game, and there were a slew of “overnight” courier services available for substantially higher prices. Those courier companies morphed into United Parcel Service (UPS), Federal Express (FedEx), DHL, and a few lesser players.

Their business models have outstripped the Post Office in performance, not only in the domestic market, but also in the international market. I have to believe that this has not occurred without the wheeling and dealing of Big Business. To set the record straight on some facts quoted below, the USPS is not mismanaged. It has been under the thumb of an unrelenting Congress for the last forty odd years. The USPS has been literally robbed of its revenue by acts of Congress, and that is why they are in such financial chaos. The government mandates on their pension system add untold “on paper” losses that keep the USPS in the red.


Now, along come the aforementioned “courier” companies who have set their eyes on the entire mail and package delivery system, worldwide. If the business lobby can force the USPS to go under, their clients can walk right in without firing a shot, and take over the entire show. That’s how capitalism works, when greed is King. So, the number quoted below, $117 billion in the last ten years, is not a very surprising amount.



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The US has entered into a contract with a real estate firm to sell 56 buildings that currently house U.S. Post Offices. The government has decided it no longer needs these buildings, most of which are located on prime land in towns and cities across the country. The sale of these properties will fetch about $19 billion. A regular real estate commission will be paid to the company that was given the exclusive listing for handling the sales. That company is CRi and it belongs to a man named Richard Blum.“Richard Blum is the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein and is shown with her in the picture above. (Most voters and many of the government people who approved the deal have not made the connection between the two because they have different last names). Senator Feinstein and her husband stand to make a fortune (at between $950 million and $1.1 billion!!) from these transactions. His company is the sole real estate agent on the sale. CRI will be making a minimum of 3% and as much as 6% commission on each and every sale. All of the properties that are being sold are all fully paid for. They were purchased with U.S. taxpayers dollars.”“Well, the folks in Washington have given the Post Office the OK to do it! Worse yet, most of the net proceeds of the sales will go back to the U.S.P.S, an organization that is so poorly managed that they have lost $117 billion dollars in the past 10 years! No one in the mainstream media is even raising an eyebrow over the conflict of interest and on the possibility of corruption on the sale of billions of dollars’ worth of public assets. How does a U.S. Senator from San Francisco manage to get away with organizing and lobbying such a sweet deal? Has our government become so elitist that they have no fear of oversight? And it's no mere coincidence that these two public service crooks have different last names; a feeble attempt at avoiding transparency in these type of transactions. Pass this info on before it's pulled from the Internet. I even verified it on Snopes:” http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/blum.asp
And, Snopes usually puts a liberal spin on whatever it reports. It also was verified on TruthofFiction.com, which is a more reliable source for checking Internet rumors. You can read what they said by clicking on:”  http://www.truthorfiction.com/Blum-Post-Office-Sale-061013.htm“Now, here's the test.”“The U.S.P.S. is allowed free and clear, tax exempt use. The only cost to keep them open is the cost to actually keep the doors open and the heat and lights on. The United States Postal Service doesn't even have to pay county property taxes on these subject properties.”             “QUESTION?”                    “Would you put your house in foreclosure, just because                                    you couldn't afford to pay the electric bill?” 

 “DOES THIS PISS YOU OFF?
 “If it doesn't, then don't complain about the corruption and the ineptness in D.C. You apparently have given up or have turned a blind eye and don't care.