<p>Elena Patel, Co-Director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, joins Bob to discuss the extraordinary economic impact the Postal Service has on rural and postal-reliant communities, as well as the importance of the agency&#39;s <em>universal service obligation</em> to the entire country. Elena and Bob also talk about the difficulty the Postal Service has in effectively meeting this obligation in light of its current financial pressures, and potential fixes. Dr. Patel has recently authored two scholarly papers on the Postal Service.  </p>