Peter Orszag, of all people, states a point that I wholeheartedly agree with.

Privatize the post office.

"The Postal Service faces three problems: First, Congress has not given it the permission it needs to cut costs and raise revenue -- and lawmakers seem unable to approve even modest reforms. Second, its market has been declining for years, as e- mail, electronic payment and other alternatives to traditional mail have grown. Third, the economic slump has caused a further drop-off in mail volumes. [...]

[P]rivatization has become the best path forward, mainly because it would take Congress out of the picture. As New York Times columnist Joe Nocera recently argued, "the problem is that neither the management nor the workers really control the Postal Service. Even though the post office has been self-financed since the 1980s, it remains shackled by Congress, which simply can't bring itself to allow the service to make its own decisions." And Congress won't do so, as long as the post office remains part of the government."

It's all about control.  Congress feels it must maintain it's control over the post office, even if that control is abused through neglect and causes bankruptcy.  They likely figure that they will just shovel tax money at the institution in the last resort, just like they do with everything they ignore or mismanage. 

Trouble is, there might not be tax money left to waste anymore.   

Another option is to simply sell the post office's franchise to some private party, like Federal Express, or  UPS.  Those businesses would immediately determine what services could profitably continue, and which should be jettisoned or changed.  The process would generate revenue for the government, and leave the country with the mail service that they actually would pay for.  Why not do that, and remove the mail issue entirely from government's dead hand?