At a Morgan Stanley conference last week, Elon Musk told attendees the federal government should privatize “as much as possible” – and singled out the U.S. Postal Service as a top target.
Musk’s comments are the latest in an alarming push from Trump’s team to strip-mine America’s oldest and second-most popular agency (USPS narrowly trails the National Parks Service, another victim of Musk’s austerity chainsaw). Trump – who has long feuded with the Postal Service over mail-in balloting – stated in December he was “looking at” privatizing USPS. The Washington Post recently reported on Trump’s plans to end USPS’ independent status and move it to the corporate-captured Commerce Department, where it would be under the direct control of billionaire ex-banker Howard Lutnick.
Though Trump has yet to make anything official, Big Business is already giddy at getting its hands on USPS’ valuable assets. A leaked February 27 paper from Wells Fargo’s equity research team lays out in disturbing detail how Wall Street and corporate couriers could profit from a privatized Postal Service.
