A Load of Garbage

The garbage truck came through my neighborhood this morning.  This is not a remarkable occurrence.   Garbage trucks come through most neighborhoods, usually early in the morning.  The garbage truck in our neighborhood is noisier than it used to be, and this got me thinking about the high level of unemployment in our little 'ville.  The garbage truck is noisier than it used to be because a few years ago, the private company that collects refuse in our county decided to get new trucks with mechanical arms that lift 90-gallon cans and dump them into the truck without human effort.  This meant they could lay off a bunch of employees and cut their costs.
Eliminating jobs to cut costs and increase profits has been the standard way of doing business in America for so long that no one questions it.  The problem with this is that after many years of this, there are now more people looking for work than there are jobs for them to do.  Meanwhile, a lot of work goes undone because no one wants to pay someone to do it.
Very few things spoil the looks of a neighborhood like the presence of trash bags or bins at the curb all day once a week.  Before the switch to the mechanical trash pick-up, we kept our trash can in a closet and set it out under our carport the night before or morning of the collection.  We paid a little extra to have a man come up the hill to the house and carry the trash down to the truck.   This was convenient for us and kept our neighborhood from looking unsightly.