The Japanese Prime Minister announced plans to privatize the postal service and four highway related public corporations. And in Russia, President Putin has given the green light to railway privatization. Meanwhile, the American taxpayer is stuck with the wildly inefficient and slow monopoly that is the USPS. As well as footing the bill for a commuter rail line, Amtrak, that only breaks even on two or three routes. Both Russia and Japan are using privatization to balance their budgets, improve services, and generally make their governments more solvent. Unfortunately, special interests have prevented similar moves here in the US. Seems that some strategic thinking like this would bring our budget more in balance, and potentially allow for tax cuts.