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Comment by Despegar | Hacker News Reader

The Federal Reserve should buy a bunch of stamps from the USPS if Congress won't bail it out.

> The Federal Reserve should buy a bunch of stamps from the USPS if Congress won't bail it out.

I get this site doesn't like talking politics but it has been a largely Republican lead effort to 'starve the beast' and this is a simple fact easily confirmed by looking at voting records.

Most recently: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2382...

The fed doesn't just give away money... they can only loan money out, which had to be repaid later.

What OP is saying would not be "giving away" anything. The stamps would be an appreciating investment (the value of a Forever stamp increases every time the postal rates increase) and could be sold or used at any time.

Postage rate increases are capped to inflation, though. So they don't really appreciate.

But it wouldn't ever lose value and could inject some cash into the USPS.

They likely have a better implied return than Treasuries and many corporate bonds though, and people invest trillions of dollars in those. Risk-free investments that beat inflation aren't easy to find.

There are some issues with postage stamps as an investment, though. They're not as liquid as T-bills, though if they become a popular investment that problem solves itself. More worrying is that the USPS is not quite as reliable a borrower as the US federal government - can you really be certain this would never lose value? I'd like to see where the bond ratings agencies would rate USPS stamps.

They can use the stamps.

But they can certainly buy assets.

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