Surprise surprise:

Massive deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery, the postmaster general told Congress on Wednesday, in asking lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week

If the change happens, that doesn't necessarily mean an end to Saturday mail delivery. Previous post office studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day when mail flow is light, such as Tuesday.

Faced with dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the post office was $2.8 billion in the red last year. "If current trends continue, we could experience a net loss of $6 billion or more this fiscal year," Potter said in testimony for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.

Of course, I'm not surprised. In November I wrote:

Even the constitutionalists agree that the normally fabulous Constitution got this one wrong. The government has no business running this business. It makes it inefficient and costly. And it's no surprise that the U.S. Postal Service has been, is, and will continue to be in the red.

This should be a lesson for us all: government manages businesses in a manner that is consistently and inherently inferior to that of the private sector. All the talk about nationalizing banks, therefore, should be alarming for anyone paying attention. But of course, under this administration and Congress we are certain to see the Postal Service bailed out before privatization is even considered.