Joe the Plumber Riding High
Even if you weren’t watching the final presidential debate, you have heard about Joe the Plumber by now. It seems that this guy in Toledo Ohio became the celebrity of the hour. First brought up by McCain as an example why Obama’s economic plan wasn’t good. Joe was contemplating purchasing the plumbing company he worked for, but if he did, then his taxes would go up since he would be making more than a quarter a million dollars a year. With John bringing up Joe’s name, Obama also used it to make points in his plan. Joe suddenly was the main character for the entire debate.
Joe became instantly popular, with the media at his doorstep. He was on national radio spouting off deep economic thinking, like a good business man would do. It was a case of the little guy acting like a big guy, as it turns out Joe was the exact type of citizen that would benefit from the plan he was criticizing.
You see, Joe the Plumber isn’t a plumber. He works for a plumber in a two person company. It sounds like he might qualify as a plumber’s helper. There’s nothing wrong with that, I’ve been a plumber’s helper. That is, doing plumbing work for a licensed plumber. It happens all the time. It also was revealed that ole Joe may not like to pay any taxes at all. After being scoured by the media, it turns up that Joe is behind in his Ohio State income taxes with a twelve hundred dollar lien on his house.
But some more on the little guy thinking like a big guy. That’s not uncommon in this country. Many a working class citizen has supported, indeed voted for the party that supports big business, letting the common man shoulder the burden of paying for our country. It’s been like this for quite a while now: keep the national average wages about the same for over 30 years, let the cost of living go up, let the rich get richer. That’s what a lot of ordinary people support for generations. I just don’t get it. Like Joe the Plumber, I know several people right now who’ve worked out a deal with the IRS or they are hiding from them because they are behind on taxes, yet they vote for the folks that don’t need to care what price a gallon of gasoline is, or the price of a loaf of bread, or gallon of milk.
Finally, Ronald Regan who is a hero to John McCain and so many others is responsible for squashing small to medium sized independent businesses in this country while he was president, is on my “not a hero to me list”. I feel like one of the victims of “Reganism” because before he was president, the people in the country were making money. I was a contract welder, a small business owner. Regan made fleet owners a deal. Fleet owners were companies that could by large numbers of welding machines, semi trucks, large equipment and what have you. It wasn’t long until the independent truck driver had to park his owner operator truck and go to work for a fleet owner at a far less wage than he was accustomed to. That was true for the welder and all the other small business owners. The rich got richer; the working class had to settle for a lot less.
Joe became instantly popular, with the media at his doorstep. He was on national radio spouting off deep economic thinking, like a good business man would do. It was a case of the little guy acting like a big guy, as it turns out Joe was the exact type of citizen that would benefit from the plan he was criticizing.
You see, Joe the Plumber isn’t a plumber. He works for a plumber in a two person company. It sounds like he might qualify as a plumber’s helper. There’s nothing wrong with that, I’ve been a plumber’s helper. That is, doing plumbing work for a licensed plumber. It happens all the time. It also was revealed that ole Joe may not like to pay any taxes at all. After being scoured by the media, it turns up that Joe is behind in his Ohio State income taxes with a twelve hundred dollar lien on his house.
But some more on the little guy thinking like a big guy. That’s not uncommon in this country. Many a working class citizen has supported, indeed voted for the party that supports big business, letting the common man shoulder the burden of paying for our country. It’s been like this for quite a while now: keep the national average wages about the same for over 30 years, let the cost of living go up, let the rich get richer. That’s what a lot of ordinary people support for generations. I just don’t get it. Like Joe the Plumber, I know several people right now who’ve worked out a deal with the IRS or they are hiding from them because they are behind on taxes, yet they vote for the folks that don’t need to care what price a gallon of gasoline is, or the price of a loaf of bread, or gallon of milk.
Finally, Ronald Regan who is a hero to John McCain and so many others is responsible for squashing small to medium sized independent businesses in this country while he was president, is on my “not a hero to me list”. I feel like one of the victims of “Reganism” because before he was president, the people in the country were making money. I was a contract welder, a small business owner. Regan made fleet owners a deal. Fleet owners were companies that could by large numbers of welding machines, semi trucks, large equipment and what have you. It wasn’t long until the independent truck driver had to park his owner operator truck and go to work for a fleet owner at a far less wage than he was accustomed to. That was true for the welder and all the other small business owners. The rich got richer; the working class had to settle for a lot less.
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