Suffice to say that this important bill may be the last, best hope for reforming the Postal Service before taxpayers are handed the bill for its impending fiscal Armageddon.

At this event, AEI visiting scholar R. Richard Geddes, who urged for postal reform in his 2003 AEI Press book "Saving the Mail," will present an updated policy paper that assesses the USPS’s current situation and argues for long-term, concrete reform.

The Postal Service needs to be converted into a regular business, facing market competition and disciplined by active, focused shareholders. It must be permitted to reduce its high and rigid costs, and to adjust to the realities of a new communications marketplace. This should be done through de-monopolization, corporatization, and eventual privatization, as has been done in many other countries.

The postal reform bills in the House and Senate are disappointing in light of the reforms carried out in other developed countries, including privatization and complete de-monopolization.

To create a modern, effective postal industry that will not drain government resources, government ownership and monopoly power must end.

Today's postal reform must address the twin problems of monopoly power and government ownership.

Substantial postal reform has taken place in many other countries, which indicates that meaningful reform in the United States is feasible and in concert with other countries' policies.

Earlier this year, President George W. Bush established the President’s Commission on the United States Postal Service (USPS), which issued its final report and recommendations in August. In an effort to educate and invigorate public discussion on postal reform sparked by the commission, AEI has held a series of...