By Purple Onyx from Eyes on Obama:
The only state in the country with a worse economy than Ohio is Michigan . Barack Obama’s so far ahead in Michigan that the McCain campaign threw in the towel weeks ago. But so far, Ohio has shown more resistance to Obama. Guys like Joe the Plumber, a resident of Toledo Ohio , seem to be the biggest problem. How do you get through to a guy like Joe?
"I’m getting ready to buy a business."
Joe the Plumber
More accurately, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher hopes to buy a business someday. Joe told Obama that the business he hopes to buy earns somewhere between $250,000 and $280,000 dollars. The business in question, Newell Heating and Plumbing, reported earnings of approximately $101,000 dollars last year. Joe makes a little over $40,000 dollars a year and has a lean on his property for past due property taxes in the amount of $1,182 dollars.
A man who can’t pay a $1,200 dollar property tax bill is in no position to buy a business earning $100,000 dollars a year, let alone one earning $250,000 dollars per year. Keep in mind that a business earning $100,000 a year would be valued at somewhere between 1 and 1.5 million dollars. Where the heck is Joe the Plumber going to get a million dollars?
He told a reporter from the Toledo Blade that he discussed the possibility of buying the business during his hiring interview. That must’ve been quite an interview. There he was, about to take a job paying $40,000 dollars a year, he doesn’t even have a plumbers license, and he’s already talking about buying the place.
Guys like Joe the Plumber that drive Democrat’s crazy. It’s what led Thomas Frank to write "What’s the matter with Kansas?" Here’s a guy who could really use Obama’s tax cut for the middle class to help pay his property taxes. But he’s more worried about sometime far, far away, when he’s got a million bucks to plop down on a new business. When reporters asked him if he might want to take advantage of the tax cuts Obama’s offering middle class taxpayers like himself, he said no. He doesn’t want a tax cut now: he wants it later, after he’s rich.
Thomas Frank argued that guys like Joe the Plumber are duped into voting for republicans by the 3 g’s; God, guns and gays. I think Joe’s just confused. He thinks he’s thinking about the long term, but he’s not really thinking at all. The "long term" is made up of a succession of shorter periods of time. Each incremental advantage accumulated over those shorter periods is what adds up to longer term success.
Obama’s middle class tax cut would help him pay for any course work he might need in order to obtain a plumber’s license. And again, he could pay his property taxes, so he doesn’t lose his house while he’s chasing his dream. Apparently, he fell behind on his property taxes because of the cost of a custody battle with his ex-wife for his 13 year old son, Joey. It took him 9 years, but he finally won. For that much at least, I think we have to class Joe among the good guys.
The only state in the country with a worse economy than Ohio is Michigan. Barack Obama’s so far ahead in Michigan that the McCain campaign threw in the towel weeks ago. But so far, Ohio has shown more resistance to Obama. Guys like Joe the Plumber, a resident of Toledo Ohio, seem to be the biggest problem. How do you get through to a guy like Joe?
The fact is Obama’s already gotten through to plenty of guys like Joe the Plumber. Guys and gals who see their 401k’s plummeting, their incomes declining and their jobs being shipped overseas. And we can thank the union Joe the Plumber hopes to become a member of someday - Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics. They’ve already endorsed Obama and their members are out canvassing for Obama right now. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher may be just a little bit beyond reach, but much of the rest of working America realizes that it’s time for a change.