Post Master General Makes More than President

(CBS) While the fortunes of the U.S. Postal Service spiral down, the personal wealth of the Postmaster General seems to be on the rise, according to a report in the Washington Times.

The newspaper reported that Postmaster General John E. Potter has received pay raises of 40 percent since 2006 and a bonus last year of $135,000.

His current salary is $263,575.

The updated compensation package was approved by the Postal Board Of Governors and was filed in December, the newspaper reported, adding that Potter's total windfall in 2008 was $800,000 - more than double that of President Barack Obama.

"It's easy to freeze your pay when salaries were running as hot as a dragster the previous year," said Pete Sepp, vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, told the newspaper.

"There is something to be said for attractive compensation. But at the same time, the Postal Service has a government guaranteed monopoly on the delivery of first-class mail, and UPS and FedEx don't have that. Because of that, there is a fundamental difference in the Postal Service's business model and that of package delivery firms," he said.

Some of the added perks Potter received were $69,253 for security, in addition to deals on life insurance, airline travel and parking, the newspaper reported.

Just last month Potter, who is the nation's 72nd Postmaster General, taking the post in 2001, told Congress that huge deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery per week.

As mail volume dwindles and costs rise, the post office was $2.8 billion in the red last year and, "if current trends continue, we could experience a net loss of $6 billion or more this fiscal year," Potter said in testimony for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.

Overall mail volume was 202 billion items last year, more than 9 billion less than in 2007, the largest single volume drop in history. - CBS News

Not a bad job all considered. The Government has given you a Monopoly on most of the Business, you are supported by the Government, and you get hefty pay raises and bonuses even when your business is in the Red. Hey sounds like Wall Street!