A roundup of this morning’s must-read budget and economic stories.

In an era when tweets announce an earthquake faster than its tremors, the US Postal Service might buck the speed trend to save $1.5 billion.

“In the wake of record losses, the U.S. Postal Service announced it is cutting 7,500 jobs. But a spokesman for the post office said those positions could be restored if this whole email thing turns out to be nothing but a fad.” – Jay Leno

“This week in 1861, the first federal income tax was instituted to pay for the Civil War. These days, we don’t worry about that kind of stuff. Our wars are paid for by our grandchildren.” — Jay Leno

Better get those holiday cards mailed out on time: the U.S. Postal Service yesterday proposed another hike in the price of a first class stamp, which would take effect on Jan. 2, 2011. Happy New Year! Under the proposal, the cost of a stamp would increase from 44 cents to 46 cents – knocking cost [...]

It looks like Seinfeld’s Kramer was on to something when he protested the U.S. Postal Service here and here. The U.S. Postal Service is in serious debt and projects $238 billion in losses over the next 10 years. USPS has already borrowed $10 billion from the government and is expected to hit its debt limit [...]