The Credit Union National Association, the leading trade group for credit unions, reports 40,000 new accounts on November 5. This is 24 times the normal rate of membership increases for the industry in 2010, and two times the rate of membership since September 29, after the major banks tried to increase fees for using debit cards.

We’re being threatened with the imminent demise of the US Postal Service, and the potential loss of 120,000 good-paying jobs. But most of the near-term funding “crisis” for the USPS comes from an unusual pre-funding mandate for retiree benefits.

Apparently, the postal service often makes dire predictions like this before contract negotiations. I doubt that 120,000 postal employees will be laid off in one shot. However, there’s at least a couple things to take seriously here.

First, the decline in mail volume is real. Practically every company with a monthly bill encourages their customers to pay automatically or online. That significantly reduces mail output. The move of Netflix to streaming from mail service is probably a big blow. The rise of email over personal letters is another factor. The postal service has become a way to get Amazon orders out and to get birthday cards with $10 wedged in them from grandparents to grandchildren.

It has become a less crucial communications factor in American life. And because the postal service operates under a mandate to serve every home in America, even ones in the most rural outposts, which simply cannot be reached without a federal subsidy, their budget is more and more difficult to reach.

The unemployment data is due tomorrow, and it’s likely to be bad, with an expected 300,000 to 320,000 jobs lost in July, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and others. That’s a big problem. But unfortunately, when it comes to getting the nation back to work, tomorrow’s unemployment rate isn’t the biggest problem we face.

What’s really troubling is long-term unemployment.

EPI economists see the economic stimulus as alleviating the jobs crisis created under Bush.