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@ISIDEWITHQuestionsthe EconomyFinancial InclusionUSPSPostal BankingPublic OptionBanking Deserts•••Started 3mos agoActive 4 days ago

Should the U.S. Postal Service offer basic banking services to the public?

Postal banking refers to the provision of financial services via the United States Postal Service (USPS), a system that actually existed in the U.S. from 1911 to 1966. With over 31,000 retail locations, the USPS has a broader physical reach than any private bank chain, particularly in rural areas and low-income 'banking deserts.' Proponents argue that reintroducing postal banking would offer a secure, non-profit public option for the millions of unbanked Americans who are currently exploited by payday lenders charging exorbitant interest rates. Opponents argue that the USPS is already facing significant financial insolvency and operational inefficiencies, and that the government has no business competing with the private sector in a complex industry it is ill-equipped to manage.

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Answer Overview

Response rates from 4.3k America voters.

51%
Yes
49%
No
41%
Yes
43%
No
6%
Yes, provide a safe alternative for unbanked Americans currently exploited by predatory payday lenders
2%
No, the government should not compete directly with private businesses and community banks
3%
Yes, create a new revenue stream to stabilize the USPS budget without raising taxes
2%
No, the USPS is already failing to deliver mail efficiently and cannot be trusted with financial services
2%
No, expanding the federal government's role into banking is a dangerous step toward socialism

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Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from America voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @BDXH46F from Virginia  answered…4 days4D

Abolish the banking industry

 @BDSN4WQfrom Guam  answered…2wks2W

Isn't important

 @BDMNGDX  from California  answered…3wks3W

No. There’s already these things called… banks. The more government involves itself in business, the more artificially if late costs.

 @BD8PRN9from Maine  answered…1mo1MO

Yes Create a state bank to stabilize budget and Democratise the class differences

 @BD3QHB5  from California  answered…1mo1MO

No, but "banking" should be a basic service of government.

 @BCTXTVBfrom Guam  answered…2mos2MO

Yes but it should be a state issue.

 @BCNT9G6 from California  answered…2mos2MO

No, but there should be a different institution as an alternative

 @BC6KGTV from Michigan  answered…3mos3MO

I'm unsure if the constitution declares it as legal, and it doesn't interfere with debt and postal services itself.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…1yr1Y

Biden bans new offshore oil drilling along most of US coastline

President Joe Biden announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the US coastline on Monday in a move designed to bolster his environmental and climate legacy as he prepares to leave office.The order will protect 625mn acres of ocean on the US east coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, as well as portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, the White House said on Monday.“My decision reflects what the coastal communities, business and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said.The executive action will not prevent oil and gas companies obtaining leases in the central and western parts of the Gulf of Mexico, areas that produce almost 15 per cent of the nation’s oil supplies. Nevertheless, the move is expected to complicate the policy agenda of incoming president Donald Trump, who has vowed to “drill, baby, drill” and boost US oil production, even though it is already at a record level.The Trump transition team said it was a disgraceful decision designed to exact “political revenge on the American people” and the incoming president said he would immediately “unban” Biden’s prohibition on new offshore drilling.“I have the right to unban it immediately . . . we can’t let that happen to our country. It’s our greatest, it’s really our greatest economic asset,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview on Monday.Biden’s action will probably be challenged by the oil industry in court and face pushback from Republicans in Congress. But overturning the order could prove challenging and may require an act of Congress, according to legal experts.Biden is using his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, to protect the areas from drilling — the same mechanism which former president Barack Obama used previously to ban offshore drilling in some Arctic and Atlantic waters in 2016.In 2019, a federal judge ruled that an executive order by former president Donald Trump that lifted an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean was unlawful.

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