Unfortunately for those of us who dread dealing with the USPS, we’re talking about the Japanese Post Office
The upper house of Japan’s parliament passed a package of bills Friday to privatize the nation’s huge postal service, handing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi the largest single victory in his drive for broad reform of the world’s second-largest economy.
This is a big deal not only because it amounts to privatization of mail delivery, but because the Japanese postal system does more than just deliver mail:
Offering financial accounts as well as stamps and envelopes, the postal service here is essentially the world’s largest bank, with $3 trillion in deposits and 25,000 branches. The vote seals a plan to transfer the institution into private hands over the next 12 years.
And in a twist that sounds vaguely familiar to those of us here in the USA:
The government has traditionally used funds that the post office collects to finance public works projects, many of them politically motivated and serving little apparent social need. Koizumi contends that privatization will divert the huge pool of money into commercial capital markets and assure it is spent more efficiently, giving a boost to a troubled economy.
Sounds a bit like the Social Security “surplus” huh ?
Anyway, congratulations to Prime Minister Koizumi. Perhaps when your term in Tokyo is finished, you could come to Washington and show our politicians how its done ?
