Welp. our plumber paid a visit today for a big plug in our line. He volunteered some info when I asked him what he thought of the Joe the plumber deal.
Boy was he T'd off. I was taken back!
He said that his business, which he owns has two licensed plumbers and one unlicensed assistant. He said he makes about $74,000 a year net, that is, take home and his wife helps run the business but her paycheck is included in his, they don't separate it out. She works part time He works full time and overtime too. His employee, about $60,000 and the assistant about 29,000.
He just couldn't imagine making that much money! $250,000 take home. He did say that maybe a big company grosses over that but after all the bills get pad most plumbers around here make about what he does. The owner of a big company may take home maybe double what he does, he said, especially if he has 10 or so plumbers on staff. He thought it wasn't worth the trouble for him to deal with so many employees.
He was really upset at how the campaign had misrepresented his work, and his paycheck etc. He's voting for Obama. He said his employee was, too.
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"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." Marcus Aurelius
The thing is.. if a company has that many employees, they are usually incorporated, or file separately as a small business. Whole different tax structure.
any couple making less than 250,000, or any single person making 200,000 will not see increases in their tax.
it is a joke that now the Republicans are making this big deal about the small business man. Most of the breaks the Republicans are giving are for big businesses.. Obama is doing more for small businesses.
and small businesses employ something like 50% of the workforce (I will have to check that figure though.. but it is in the ballpark)
Whether “Joe the plumber” is or will ever be able to make 250K a year is not the question but rather what gives the government the right to decide that someone is making too much money and that it is then OK to steal some of it to give to others?
Wasn’t it interesting how in a matter of a couple days the media was able to find out all sorts of things about “Joe the plumbers” background so as to question his integrity?Yet in all the time that BO has been running for president they cannot seem to give us a definitive answer to something as simple as whether his birth certificate is valid.
Or we should make those who can barely pay their bills pay taxes as their money constantly flows to fill the coffers of the rich and powerful?
As far as a birth certificate goes anyone can go to the office that houses his birth certificate to view it at the county dept of records. Its not a big deal. I'm sure many have by now and thats why this story has not gone any further that the conspiracy rumors level.
As far as an original goes? Who has that? I've requested 3 birth certificates for myself over the years, the first time after the "original fell apart" I was surprised to see that they all looked different. Ditto for one of my sons. When I got a copy of a marriage certificate one time that looked different from the original too. Guess they change forms over time.
I would think that a simple call to the dept. of records, county clerk in Honolulu perhaps would settle it all. If you think this has not been fully researched by now ..... well, what can I say. There have been plenty of people out there trying to discredit him and this would be one on the easiest to do. You either have a birth certificate or you don't and its a matter of public record that anyone can investigate. Seeing the document in the material really means little if the county says that it does indeed exist. Law enforcement, private investigators and INS all know how to access this information
Whether “Joe the plumber” is or will ever be able to make 250K a year is not the question but rather what gives the government the right to decide that someone is making too much money and that it is then OK to steal some of it to give to others?
to put roads out there, and libraries, postal systems, military, and school systems, you need money. Therefore you always need taxes in order to be able to give these to all towns/cities in the US.
now the rest of it.. that is debatable, and what has been argued about since the US was formed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Scientist
Wasn’t it interesting how in a matter of a couple days the media was able to find out all sorts of things about “Joe the plumbers” background so as to question his integrity?Yet in all the time that BO has been running for president they cannot seem to give us a definitive answer to something as simple as whether his birth certificate is valid.
I found this elsewhere and thought it spelled things out pretty good.
Forget character attacks, deserved or not, and deal with the issue. Here"s a relevant excerpt from the WSJ 10/17/08 article, 'As Joe the Plumber Grows Famous, the Politics Get Murkier':
"To reach a level that would be affected by Sen. Obama"s proposed tax increase, Mr. Smither said, a mom-and-pop plumbing company like Newell would have to clear $5 million in annual sales. [Joe"s company actually reports only $100,000 in sales.]
Even if Mr. Wurzelbacher reaped taxable income from his business of $280,000 a
year, he'd pay only about $900 more a year in taxes under Sen. Obama's plan, which
would raise the tax rate on the income between $250,000 and $280,000 to 36%
from 33%. [...]
If Mr. Wurzelbacher earns the wages of a typical Ohio plumber, $40,600, and holds a $90,000 mortgage, he would see a TAX CUT (emphasis added) under Sen. Obama's plan of more than $1,000, compared with no tax reduction under Sen. McCain's.
If he succeeds in buying the plumbing business where he works, he could see even more tax benefits, including Sen. Obama's proposed elimination of capital-gains taxes for small-business investment, a 50% tax credit to purchase health insurance for employees and a $3,000 tax credit for every new hire over the next two years."
Let"s not be distracted by Joe "padding his resume" to ask a question in which he was interested; what matters is the TOPIC.
I would think that if all taxes revenues directed at the poor stopped, all welfare, all healthcare assistance stopped people would be clambering for it to return pretty quick as the masses of hungry destitute and homeless people started to scour their neighborhood looking for food and other necessities. There are literally millions and millions of them. Government assistance keeps them out of YOUR neighborhoods!
Don't believe me? Go live in South Dallas for a few years then tell me what you think.
or Chicago. or LA or Atlanta, or Seattle, or Denver, or Miami, even small towns now like Schenectady and Troy, New York.
And what about all the folks now out of work in Michigan, Wisconson? Just let them rot I guess. Hell, we can feel good cause now we can know all those good jobs are feeding someone else on the other side of the planet.
The largest piece of the pie goes to military.. always has.
As long as we believe in war and promote war as a basis for economic sustainability we will have war. It all gets summed up pretty good in the Report From Iron Mountain.
Conspiracy theorist, slight of hand, smoke blowers, liars, they don't go away either. Just like McCain repeatedly states that Obama's plan intends to raise taxes on the middle class when fact check and other organizations state Obama's would decrease taxes more than McCain. Not one single independent organization has come out to say that McCains tax plan is better for the middle class and small business owners. Not one that I can find anyway.
Here is a radio interview of Philip J. Berg he states that he hasa tape of BO's grandmother saying she was in the delivery room in Kenya when he was born.
Here is a radio interview of Philip J. Berg he states that he hasa tape of BO's grandmother saying she was in the delivery room in Kenya when he was born.
Rebuttal on the Joe the Plumber Topic
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