United States Post Office in the business of real estate

In what can only be described as further misuse of power and money, the United States Post Office has now come under fire. It was reported this past week that the USPS has been involved in the purchasing and selling of homes. This news comes on the heels of the Postmaster General appearing before Congress laying out the case for their financial crisis.



Postmaster General has come before Congress indicating that the service was considering cutting service a day during the week. This move was in response to troubling figures for fiscal year 2010, and the steady decline in the use of postal services.



Republican Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa, the ranking republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has indicated his disgust with the situation and has insisted that the Post Office Inspector General issue an investigation of the matter. The office has indicated that a report is in the works.



News of this spread when CNN reported that the Post Office purchased a $1.2 million dollar home in South Carolina for the relocation of an employee. It was later revealed that the home belonged to former Postmaster Ronald Hopson. Amid its own financial troubles, CNN reports that the USPS lost an average of $58,000 on a number of homes bought and sold in 2008.



What is more interesting about this situation is what other abuses will be uncovered in the coming weeks, years and months. When did the United States Post Office get into the business of real estate? The American people have for years, entrusted those in business and in government with being good stewards of their tax dollars. As we continue to see, at almost every level, mismanagement of funds have occurred.



In addition, the American people will not be as kind to listen to cuts in service if they are told about the blatant misuse of funds instituted by the USPS; the appearance of such might be outright criminal, the relocation program itself now under fire.



The current Postmaster General and all of the senior level staff over at the USPS should come before Congress again, to testify on these findings. This discovery calls in to question everything mentioned earlier by the USPS and whether or not previous testimony was indeed accurate. Members of Congress and the executive should work out a way to rectify this very important matter; so as to make certain that it does not happen again.