Jeri told us, some time back:


Dave, it's the other way around. The United States Postal Service is a government agency, but banks aren't

Au contraire, mon cher!

The US Postal Service is NOT a government agency. Yes, it used to be, but it is a separate corporation now, and has been so for some years. Yes, set up by Congressional authority, but it needs to break even, etc. (unlike government agencies), and can't be (supposedly) bailed out by the United States if it loses money. It needs to have any proposed postage hikes approved by Congress, although there's not much likelihood of getting turned down. The amount of a rate increase may be beaten down in the process of being congressionally approved.

My point was (and is) that the Post Office is technically not part of government. Neither, as you point out, are the banks. But the banks, being a whole industry and totally separate from the government, and having extreme power for good or ill vis-a-vis the economy, are placed under regulation. The Post Office is under regulation from Congress, true enough, but the same kind of oversight does not apply.

Dave Oesterreich