“As feared, the U.S. Postal Service passed 4.3 percent exigent rate increase on Christmas Eve, delivering a lump of coal to magazines, newspapers and direct mailers,” AdWeek reports. “The Postal Regulatory Commission voted for the increase on top of the annual postal rate that is capped by the consumer price index, making it the largest postal hike in more than a decade.”

Unfortunately, Article I, section 8, Clause 7 of the Constitution gives a now corrupt and dissolute Congress the authority to enforce this expensive and largely unneeded boondoggle on the American people.

In the past, the Post Office maintained rates despite its monopoly. See the images above: from 1933 to 1956, the price of a first class letter was a meager three cents. Also see the chart below. The postal rate increase has basically followed the rate of inflation. Call it the Federal Reserve Effect.