Bill, there are two problems with your premise.

1) The government does not 'run' the USPS. The USPS is a private corporation that operates under government oversight. No tax dollars had subsidized the USPS since the 1970s when the break was made.

2) Amtrak does not lose "billions per year". The largest one-year subsidy they ever got was $1.4B.

Figmo: What "huge bonuses" are you talking about? My ex-wife has been working for the USPS for quite a few years and she's got some horror stories but none involve huge bonuses. As far as retirement, they get something similar to a 401K (called a "TSP"), only not as flexible, but they have to contribute to it for it to be any good. The one thing they DO still have is a pension system that will allow them to get 1% of their income per year of service (like any civil servant gets). This was FDR's original "three legs" to support elderly retirement - Social Security, pension, and personal savings (TSP/401k)