{"id":183185,"date":"2025-03-06T16:27:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T06:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=183185"},"modified":"2025-03-06T16:29:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T06:29:31","slug":"elon-musk-suggests-the-u-s-should-privatize-the-postal-service-and-amtrak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=183185","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk suggests the U.S. should privatize the Postal Service and Amtrak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trump adviser and tech mogul Elon Musk suggested Wednesday that the U.S. government should privatize “as much as possible” and named Amtrak and the U.S. Postal Service<\/a> as two services ripe for privatization, according to a source in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a virtual appearance at a Morgan Stanley technology conference, Musk told attendees about his experiences riding bullet trains abroad and said, “And we come back to America, like, Amtrak is a sad situation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you\u2019re coming from another country, please don\u2019t use our national rail. It can leave you with a very bad impression of America,” Musk added. “So, I just, I think we should prioritize anything that can be privatized.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ownership structures of high-speed railways abroad vary widely. Some are fully state owned, as in China. Others, like Japan\u2019s railways, have been largely privatized. The European system is mixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, whom President Donald Trump on Tuesday credited with running the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, said privatization would ensure “a feedback loop for improvement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In the ‘olden days’ privatization could be a good thing, but since predatory capitalism\/criminalization took hold of our economy, it’s the way to radical exploitation when safety, security and wages on the job declined.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“Basically, something’s got to have some chance of going bankrupt, or there’s not a good feedback loop for improvement,” Musk added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We should try to privatize everything we possibly can, and that would be my recommendation,” Musk said later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, before he was sworn in to a second term, Trump floated the idea of privatizing the USPS, telling reporters at a press conference<\/a> that privatization was \u201cnot the worst idea I\u2019ve ever heard” and that “we\u2019re looking\u201d at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump also told reporters last month <\/a>that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick would “look into” folding the USPS into the Commerce Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to look at it. He\u2019s got a great business instinct, which is what we need, and he\u2019ll be looking at it. And we think we can turn it around, but it\u2019s \u2014 it\u2019s the Postal Service,\u201d the president said at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re losing so much money with the Postal Service, and we don\u2019t want to lose that kind of money. So the secretary and some others that have talent, that kind of talent, we\u2019ll be looking at it,” Trump added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Postal Service routinely posts annual losses<\/a>, often driven by costs associated with retiree pensions. For its most recent fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, USPS reported an annual increase in operating revenue to $79.54 billion due to price increases, as mail volume declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics privatizing the postal service often point out that it is a critical resource, particularly for people living in rural or hard-to-access areas where other shipping companies, like UPS and FedEx, don\u2019t deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USPS has a \u201cuniversal service obligation,\u201d meaning that it has to deliver mail and parcels without regard to concerns about distance or profitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: NBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a remote appearance at a technology conference in San Francisco, Musk told attendees the U.S. should privatize “as much as possible.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":183187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1304,35,47],"tags":[9120,11,15727],"class_list":["post-183185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amtrak","category-breaking-news","category-rail-news","tag-elon-musk","tag-usa","tag-usps"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t