The British government sold off its remaining 13% stake in the Royal Mail, the U.K.'s version of our postal service, overnight, "raising the equivalent of $907 million," the New York Times reports.
It's puzzling to me, in the midst of a presidential campaign and given the size of the national debt, that no one here in America seems to be talking about doing this here, at least in any way that is getting much attention. Between the real estate assets — all those post offices located on choice central sites — and the underlying delivery business that could be worth something to companies such as FedEx, UPS, Amazon, or Walmart, you'd think that there would be some interest.
It's almost as if there is a double standard. Left-leaning policies from Europe — high tax rates, government-paid health care, wind and solar energy mandates and subsidies, lavish paid vacation and family leave — are seen as things that America should copy and implement here. Yet free-market-oriented policies from Europe — like privatizing government agencies from airports to the post office — are seen as outside the realm of reasonable discussion.