Postcard from Washington

Postcard from Washington.The Supreme Court of Sticky Stamps - officially, the Postal Regulatory Commission - invites us to what is advertised as ``a short briefing'' in a room crammed with lobbyists and lawyers. On the dais are three men (all Republicans) and two women (both Democrats) who are here to inform the United States Postal Service whether or not they will permit it to raise the price of a first-class stamp by two Lincoln pennies, all the way to forty-six cents.

The Postal Service has asked for an ``exigent rate adjustment,'' far exceeding the microscopic rate of inflation, because email, Facebook, Flickr, and the Great Recession have eaten savagely into its revenues, while its pension obligations to millions of retired mailmen can be stayed by neither snow nor rain nor heat. Annual losses are being measured in the billions of dollars, hence the appeal to the PRC.