Undersizing the government, piecemeal, person by person; agency by agency

The spirit of austerity in the United States hit home last week. We federal employees were already subjected to frozen wages for at least two years by order of the president. I will be subjected to furloughs because my agency is short of cash because there is not enough money coming in from Washington.  All temporary employees have been terminated.  There is no money for any thing, except to function.  I've never been furloughed before because I am considered essential.  But, that's only if the entire government shuts down.  In the case of my agency, the agency itself is not shutting down.  In order to spare the layoff of at least twelve employees, everyone in my agency will be furloughed for at least one day a month for at least twelve months, if not indefinitely.  No wonder those planning to retire have have decided to retire sooner.

There were tears and worries when the furloughs were announced.  Some people are single parents, some are the sole-income earner, some are married to others in our agency.  Many people in my agency work other part-time jobs.  One, I know of, works two other jobs.  My colleagues are college-educated folks, most with masters degrees, who are career government professionals. It's a blow financially.  It's a blow professionally.  Our workloads will remain the same.  The over-40-hour weeks many of us work will now be more. nBecause we are professionals.  Because we take pride in our work.

I am one of the more fortunate ones.   My partner's wages are frozen too.   (She works at a local center of higher education.) But she has wages.  Not great, but at least professional wages.  We will not feel the income loss as much as some of the others in my agency and much less than some other federal agencies where people are being furloughed one to two days per two-week pay period.  And certainly much less than those like my partner's sister who has been without work for over two years or those, like some friends, who've given up looking for work entirely.

Having perpetual furloughs, of course, is not a good way for government to function but that, as I see it, is the goal of the corporate elite and the tea-baggers.  To bring the whole thing down. The former want to have no government save that which is yoked to the wishes of greedy rich and the latter, funded by the former, want to get rid of the government forevever and strive to bring on Armageddon.  I hope I can say with with my job until I am required to retire in eight and a half years; but I am glad I have the option to retire in a year and a half.  Then, we may feel compelled to leave for a less scary place, than the close-minded, mean, ignorant place to which United States is accelerating at a warp speed.  That thought both sickens me and makes me sad.  Very sad.  I want to continue to serve my country with pride.  I can only do the best I can.