U.S. Post Office beta-tests grocery delivery; ObamaCare required state-by-state health information exchanges are spun-out into non-profit organizations; Indiana Governor Mike Pence attempted to start a state-run news agency
The Government Takeover of Everything - Blurring Lines, Erasing Accountability
Forbes Editorial | April 29, 2015
In many areas of society government is crowding out, invading and undermining the private sector. These actions blur the lines between government, non-profit and private enterprise.
In an extreme example unfolding now, the U.S. Post Office is trying to stem the billions of red ink losses by competing against private companies in the grocery delivery business.
Why is the USPS moving into grocery delivery? According to data at OpenTheBooks.com, the federal government doesn't even exclusively use the post office for mail delivery - $17 billion was paid to UPS and FedEx since 2001.
Now USPS is going to deliver mail and eggs?
From our Forbes editorial, here are some more examples:
- State run ObamaCare health information exchanges are eventually spun out into non-profit organizations - after taxpayers birthed them with billions of dollars.
- The University of Illinois at Champaign founded a catering business that serves on-and-off campus functions while underpricing private catering businesses. They catered 3,000 off-campus functions last year!
- At College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL, the eleventh largest community college in the country, all institutional lines were blurred to pass a $168 million bond referendum in 2010. Senior administrators even founded a political action committee and solicited college vendors for campaign cash.
Next door in Indiana, Governor Mike Pence attempted to start a state-run news agency to compete with independent media. With obvious dangerous historical precedent, it looks like the lessons of the former Soviet run Pravda were lost even on the conservative Pence.
In America, the lines between government, non-profit and private sector are being blurred and in many cases erased.
Whether it's through a philanthropic non-profit vehicle or the audacious jump into private enterprise, "our betters" are constricting our individual freedom and liberty.
It's time to expose these schemes and stop the invasion.
Please let us know what you are seeing locally in your community and state.
Join the Transparency Revolution!
Matthew Tyrmand, Deputy Director
Adam Andrzejewski, Chairman