Conservative View Inflation Has Gone Insane

     I pulled up to the pump to buy some gasoline today.  The price was $3.85 a gallon.  The gallon of milk I bought earlier in the week was $2.69.  Mailing a package cost me almost $25.00.  Compare that with these prices from 1962:

Gallon of Gasoline                     $0.31
Gallon of Milk                           $0.49
First Class Stamp                      $0.04

     What causes the difference in prices?  The value of the US Dollar is disappearing because of inflation.  In its simplest terms, inflation is caused when a money issuing institution, in this case the United States government, creates more money than is justified by the wealth of that institution.
     Why would the United States want to print more money than is justified?  As a Conscious Conservative, I believe that one answer is that in an environment where money is worth less and less, whoever gets the money first gets the most value from it.  In the United States, that means that the government and bankers get the most use from each dollar and wage earners get the least.  Basically, government creates and spends the dollar when it is still worth a dollar, but by the time it ends up in a worker's paycheck, it is only worth $0.90 in an environment of hyperinflation.  This is an incipient "hidden tax" that Americans have been paying since the mid-20th century.  That we put up with it is insane.

Why The Post Office Struggles -- A Conscious Conservative View

I wanted to mail a package this week but I had a slight problem.  I was going to be in an unfamiliar part of the city and didn't know where to find a Post Office.  I did what I thought was the most logical thing.  I went to the United States Postal Service web site to find a location in that neighborhood.

What I thought would be simple was not.  I clicked on the "find locations" button and entered the Zip Code where I was going to be that day.  I expected to find the Post Office that services that Zip Code.  I did not.  Instead, the Post Office displayed every place that sold stamps in that area.  Being that I was in a large city,  just about every place sold stamps.  The list had restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, banks and office supply stores.  I was no closer to finding a Post Office.

I refined my search to find only "Automated Postal Centers®."  Eureka!  I found a Post Office that I thought was near to where I was going.  I clicked on the map and found something was wrong.  The map showed that the Post Office was on the other side of town.  I was familiar with the neighborhood on the map and knew there was not a Post Office near that location.  It appears that the United States Postal Service cannot tell me where its own offices are located. Every business makes mistakes, but if the Post Office cannot give you an address, who can?  Doesn't the Postal Service assign everybody's address?

I finally went to a private source; Google Maps.  I was able to find the local Post Office.  Not only that, but I could see the Post Office on satellite, see what businesses were nearby and get driving directions to the Post Office.  I mailed my package later that day and was happy.

I find this to be a microcosm of private vs. government efficiency.  The private source delivers not only what the customer wants, but offers extras, quickly and efficiently.  The government source can't even tell you where they are located.