Posted by
Yubaduck on Saturday, October 18, 2008 3:54:28 PM
Joe the Plumber is not the issue. Whether he is or is not a licensed plumber, whether he is a nice guy or not, whether he would make a competent politician or not. Joe the Plumber is not running for anything. His dream is apparently to someday own his own plumbing company and make 1/16th of the money Barack Obama made last year. So if Joe the Plumber is not the issue, what is? Why is everyone talking about him? Because Joe with a well placed and well phrased question caught on you tube exposed Obama (once again) for the paternalistic elitist that he is. Joe asked simply "If I want to buy the company I work for some day, and I make 250,000 in doing so, why would you punish me with higher taxes?" And Obama smugly answered, as we all know by now, that if we "Spread the wealth" to those beneath you, its better for everyone." Joe put the taxation question into terms that people can identify with. And Obama answered like the smug elitist that he is.
So now team messiah is trying to smear Joe and distract from the truths that his question raised. Joe Biden (Or Joe the Career Politician) said plumbers don't make 250,000 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I have to wonder how many Plumbers Joe from Scranton is on intimate terms with, intimate enough that they tell him their yearly salary. I also have to wonder who appointed Joe the Politician to determine what Joe the Plumber ought to make. Team Obama has raised the fact that Joe owes back taxes, as a character flaw.....many self employed people, contractors, small business owners, and others do as well because they do not have taxes removed from an hourly, weekly, or monthly wage, they pay them quarterly out of pocket. As a contract plumber, Joe may or may not fit into this category, but it raises another flaw of the tax system that Obama defends. They brought up the fact that Joe is divorced. So is half of America, Obama, do you want to really raise that standard as required for someone to ask you a question? Ultimately, thats what its all about to him. He can't defend his position, so he is attacking the messenger. 84% of American according to a poll I heard quoted on Mark Levins show do not believe in redistribution of weath when asked point blank. So Obama can't defend his answer, its indefensible. He is telling us that this "average American" is too flawed to question him or may have had alterior motives in questioning him. Basically, like when Palin was chosen, Obama and his team of arrogance want to belittle anyone and everyone who opposes him, including some poor schmuck whose question to him happened to be caught on you tube. Why? Because when examined, his policy proposals are in many cases the antithesis of the American Dream.
So let me tell you about a plumber I knew. When I lived in Georgia during my military enlistment, Chris was a contract plumber working for a man who owned a business. He went to our Church with his wife and 2 kids. He was slowly working to save up for his own business, setting aside money whenever he could, renting a home instead of buying, not taking vacations, pouring every spare cent into an account. When he had saved up 20,000 dollars, after about 3 years, he put it down on 120,000 dollar truck. The truck was a plumber truck, with all the things necessary to be an entire office on wheels. It included tool boxes, spools for hoses and such, places to hold every part imaginable that a plumber might need. He took a huge risk to be his own boss, to start his own business. For the first 6-8 months of owning his own company, Chris nearly went under. In the beginning, he did not have health insurance like he had as a contract plumber working for someone else, and when one of his three kids (they had another one right before he made the big leap) got seriously sick, he almost had to stop. But the plumbers union (yes, they sometimes do some good things) raised money for him, the church raised money for him, and his wife (who wanted to be an at home mom), got a part time computer based job to keep the family afloat. His son got better and Chris built up a customer base, and by the time I left Georgia, he was making between 90 and 100,000 dollars a year. He had paid down the truck considerably, been able to get himself health insurance through the union, and saved to put a down payment on a house. He worked some days as many as 15 hours, but he was his own boss, loved his job, and took pride in his work. He was considering buying a second truck and hiring another plumber to use it. When I knew Chris, I was in the Navy. I was making 1,879 a month as an E-5, but I lived in free base housing, had free medical, paid only for TV, phone and internet as utilities, and had the security of a check every two weeks. I made less because I chose a secure job rather than a job with financial risk. I had a different American dream. I grew up in a family where lack of security was a scary thing. My dad worked hard and did his best for a lumber mill for about 20 years. He moved up through the ladder and was making a pretty good living when all at once, they closed. For almost 7 years, he bounced from minimum wage entry level jobs with kids half his age to part time mill work to the unemployment line, always hoping to find a job that would bring security. Finally, after seven years of this, he did, and he worked the last 12 or so years before medical retirement for a specialty mill that made crossarms. Chris and I had different American Dreams. His was to be his own boss, to own his own company. Mine was to have a secure job where I did not need to fear the unknown and could support my family. Besides financial aspects, there are other components of the Dream. Some want a job they can leave behind them and be free of on their off time. Some love to live their work, to have it be all consuming. Some want to "do good" for others, some want to "save the world", some want a job that is easy, others a job that is fun. All would like to make a lot of money, some are willing to put in the long hours for it, others the intense schooling, others take the financial risks. For each one of us, the American Dream is a slightly different picture. Many of us are too fearful to chase it and live our dreams outside of work or always talk about it. Others chase it and fail, then either give up or rebound to try again later. The key thing is, the American Dream is earned, not given away.
Who is Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or any other public "servant" to pompously tell Joe that when he reaches his dream, he owes it to those below him, those who did not take the risks he took, work the hours he worked, or endure the challenges he endured, that he owes these people a large portion of his income to fulfill their American Dream. Right now, if Chris or Joe, pay 36% of their income to federal taxes. Out of 250,000, this is about 88,000 dollars. Lets say half of that can be written off in some way and they pay 44,000 in taxes. Then they pay state taxes. Each state is different, the highest is about 13%, so lets say 5%....That is another 12,500. Then they pay property taxes on their house, registration fees for their cars, and license fees to the state to be a plumber, local taxes, sales taxes, fees and tolls.....Out of the 250,000 dollars that a "rich" business owner is making, they are probably approaching 80-100,000 dollars in taxes if they find all the loopholes, much more if they try to navigate the tax system themselves. Barack Obama wants to raise that rate by 3%, another 7,500 dollars of Joe or Chris' money. He wants to mandate health coverage for any employees he has at a cost of thousands more. He wants to impose new OSHA, EPA, Carbon Offsets, Fuel Taxes, and other hidden costs onto this mans income, raising that 80-100,000 already paid to more like 120,000 dollars. Meanwhile, somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-40% of American pay no tax. Many of them recieve tax rebates, a pseudonym for redistributed wealth. Is this fair? It is justice? Is it right to stick it to the evil business owner in this way? Why bother to risk it all, to work the long hours that so many business owners work, to go through all of this, when he could make almost as much without the headaches as a state worker of some sort, or part of a corporation. Because its his American dream. He took the risks, he deserves the riches. I chose a "safer" route, and I don't begrudge him the money he earned. Patrick Henry once cried "As for me, give me liberty or give me death." With Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, especially if the Senate gets to the filibusterproof 60, we may lose many of our liberties, including the right of people to pursue an American Dream and reap its rewards.
Tell me again, does this election mean nothing?