Commentary

Germany Considering Mail Privatization

Per Forbes, Germany’s Interior Ministry is considering contracting out the delivery of official letters. Meanwhile, over in Japan—where privatization is now underway—the Wall Street Journal reports that the young privatization initiative is under pressure from the recession (given the initiative’s financial services component) and national politics. However, you should expect hiccups along the way in a massive privatization of an agency that was formerly the largest employer in Japan, and judging from other stories on Japan’s privatization that I’ve read recently, the initiative still seems to retain a critical mass of political support.

Given the U.S. Postal Services’ dire fiscal health—it lost $2.8 billion dollars last year alone, and continues to operate in the red—I’d expect to see more interest in postal privatization in coming years as federal policymakers begin to reckon with our behemoth of a fiscal crisis.