Furlough Days

An easy essay inspired by Peter Maurin

Today I went to the city dump
to drop off some garden waste that does not make good compost,
and to pick up some free wood chips to be used for compost and mulch.

When I got there it was closed and I could not figure out why.
Finally I saw a sign on the gate that said it is a ‘furlough day’.

A furlough day is one that city workers have off but received no pay
and we city residents receive no services of the city dump.

If furlough days are no pay and no service days why have them?
City officials say they are to keep our taxes down.

Who gets the savings of furlough days?
Certainly not the workers at the city dump who have less money.
Most of us pay the same amount of taxes for city government or more that we have traditionally paid,
even when there are less and less city services provided by the city.

Well officials say taxes would go up more if it was not for ‘furlough’ days.
Actually the gas and other cost of going to the dump again, which I will need to do,
would have saved me more than my part of this furlough day tax savings.

The very rich always remind us that they pay the most taxes, city, state and Federal.
If that is true, which I believe it to be, the rich save the most by furlough days.

But I doubt if you will ever see the very rich in the city dump yard.
With their tax savings, workers lost savings and my extra cost to return to dump,
The very rich can afford to hire someone to go to the city dump.

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