Billionaire Elon Musk, who is advising President Donald Trump on plans to radically shrink the U.S. government, said on Wednesday that the U.S. Postal Service and passenger railroad Amtrak should be privatized.
“I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized,” Musk said at a Morgan Stanley conference. “I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak for example… We should privatize everything we possibly can.”
He said he thought those actions would require congressional approval.
Last month, Trump said he was considering merging the Postal Service with the U.S. Commerce Department, a move Democrats said would violate federal law.
The Postal Service has lost more than $100 billion since 2007, including $9.5 billion in the 12 months ending September 30. Earlier this month, however, it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $144 million. As email boomed, the agency has been hurt by an 80% decline in first-class mail volume since 1997. Volume is now at the lowest level since 1968.
USPS declined to comment.