Business

Why US Postal Service deserves to go broke

Sometimes I have to give rapid-fire thoughts on a lot of things to make everything fit into my allotted space, which really isn’t a lot. This is one of those columns.

* The US Postal Service deserves to go broke.

The Post Office said last week that it lost an astounding $5.2 billion in the last three months. And like every other poorly run company it is asking for Congress’ help. The Post Office is using the same blackmail tactic everyone else does: jobs are at stake.

Sorry, PO, but fix your most glaring problem first.

The Postal Service obviously has too many people in too many places doing too little work, thanks to the proliferation of other mail services and electronic correspondence.

But the real problem is that the Post Office is getting robbed blind.

The stamps we put on envelopes are easily counterfeited, as are the money orders issued at the Post Office. When your two main businesses are so vulnerable to thieves, how can you possibly make money?

I wrote about counterfeit postage stamps two years ago and my sources offered to help track down the bad guys. Postal inspectors shrugged — they weren’t interested.

And because the Post Office isn’t really a government entity — although it puts its hand out like one — the FBI and other law enforcement agencies don’t have jurisdiction over these crimes.

So when the Postal Service is dead and buried, we’ll all say, “Oh, it was so nice to have.” We’ll send our letters and packages some other way. And you can bet the real businessmen who take over won’t let their stamps be forged.

* Congratulations to Goldman Sachs, which walked away untouched in the mortgage-backed securities scandal.

The only problem is, that’s not the scandal Goldman is — or should — be worried about.

Sorry for repeating myself but Goldman’s bigger problem concerns its possible use of government connections — specifically, former Treasury Secretary and Goldman chairman Hank Paulson — to plump up trading profits.

The mortgage scandal, which I said from the start was garbage, had to do with Goldman allegedly selling mortgage-backed securities to customers and then betting on the failure of those securities.

This is done all the time on Wall Street. It’s business as usual.

Any role Goldman had in supporting (aka rigging) the markets during the financial crisis is the next really big issue. This will be like the current Libor-fixing investigation in London, only bigger.

As I’ve said before, the Goldman/Paulson matter is being investigated. And investigations do seem to get lost during presidential election years, but I think this one has legs.

* Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan is Mitt Romney’s pick for vice president. And if Ryan has his way (which, of course, he won’t) federal spending will be cut dramatically.

Problem is, the economy is barely expanding as it is. Cutting government expenditures now will make it grow even less, probably throwing the country into another recession.

If you asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, he’d say massive deficit reduction is nuts.

So, here’s the dilemma: the deficit needs to be reduced because it is strangling the economy, but it can’t be reduced without killing economic growth and jobs.

That would seem like a pretty impossible problem.

Maybe not. As you know, my plan has been to stimulate the economy by unleashing people’s ability to spend some of the trillions in pent-up retirement savings.

If my plan was enacted, it would be neutral to the budget deficit at worst; even a positive if taxes were collected on that spent retirement savings.

So, Washington could stimulate the economy my way while simultaneously cutting government spending.

We could also continue to use conventional economics to fight our problems. But most of us will be dead before anything is accomplished.

I’m waiting to hear from either political party.

* Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance apparently doesn’t have enough to do so he’s playing water boy to Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

About three years ago, Sergey Aleynikov was arrested after Goldman Sachs (there’s that name again) complained he had stolen computer code before he left for a new job. The code was so important, said an FBI agent, that it could be used to rig financial markets.

(Yes, my question, too: What was Goldman doing with computer programs that could rig the markets?)

Anyway, Goldman complained and the feds went after Aleynikov, who was convicted and jailed but then let go on appeal because, apparently, his case shouldn’t have been handled by the feds.

So last week Vance decides to arrest and arraign Aleynikov on the same charges — not at all concerned that this might be a prime example of the legal concept of “double jeopardy.” People who know about this sort of thing say prosecutors often do favors like this for each other.

Well, I think Vance should be spending his time on murderers, drug dealers, money launderers, counterfeiters, prostitutes, bootleg cigarette sellers, gun runners and domestic abusers.

And then if he still has time left over he can do mop-up work for the embarrassed federal prosecutors.

john.crudele@nypost.com