Who Cares If Joe the Plumber Isn't a Plumber?
| Thu Oct. 16, 2008 2:34 PM PDT
Or if the Court of Common Pleas in Lucas County, Ohio, issued a tax lien on Joe Wurzelbacher, the now-(in)famous plumber-by-association?
I don't; nobody should.
But while John McCain and the right are heralding Joe as a hero for asking Barack Obama head-on if the plumbing business he wants to buy would pay higher taxes under Obama's economic plan, everyone else, it seems, is prying into his life and making a huff about the fact that he was never licensed as a plumber in Ohio, owes back taxes, and just might be related to Charles Keating.
Why can't we—the media—leave the guy alone? As far as I'm concerned, there are only two things that matter about Wurzelbacher: He probably won't actually pay more taxes under Obama's plan if he buys the plumbing business, and, as Andrew Sullivan notes:
Joe the Plumber has now had more press conferences than Sarah Palin.
—Steve Aquino
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Continued From Above
Comments
Forget the character attacks, however deserved or not. Let's deal with the actual issue that was raised. Here's a relevant excerpt from the (very) conservative Wall Street Journal article of OCTOBER 17, 2008, '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."
Yep ? facts are pesky things.
Forget the character attacks, however deserved or not. Let's deal with the actual issue that was raised. Here's a relevant excerpt from the (very) conservative Wall Street Journal article of OCTOBER 17, 2008, '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."
Yep ? facts are pesky things.
Submitted by Give Me Liberty or Give Me My Money Back (not verified) on Thu Oct. 16, 2008 3:05 PM PDT.
Who Cares If Joe the Plumber Isn't a Plumber?
Well who do you think cares?
Some local bureaucrat who thinks his job is to squeeze as much money as possible out of working folks via licensing fees, under the guise of protecting consumers.
And if he can locate a small business, say 2 or 3 (wo)man operation that's failed to pay a required licensing fee, then he can squeeze even more out of them via fines & penalties.
Isn't that what government's for~?
That's the way it goes with the pesky license requirements. The cost of mine for the area are 4 grand plus thousands for permits. At least the "average Joe" know I will do the work right or risk losing the license. I am just a two man operation and wish I could make 250K. I feel sorry for the poor guy. He just got caught up in his own BS.
You are absolutely correct I could care less about Joe. The press wasted no time digging into the deep crevasses of this man's life for no reason when they had a few different story angles they could have focused on
1) The McCain campaign made him a central theme of the debate. Why not debate the issues and the policies he would take up to solve or remediate the problems. Give me something new and substantive about what may be wrong with the policies. The parts that get lost in the soundbytes. They do say the devil is in the details.
2) the press should have been asking one another how Joe's income information was so readily available? How were they able to get that so fast? and who gave up the information?
3) it matters not that the man is an idiot trying to score points by asking what is essentially a hypothetical question, way off in the future. Make that part the footnote, if you are going to dig so deep make the story a compare contrast and make it relatable. If the story is done right I'll know he's idiot. I won't have to be told.
4) Why didn't the McCain campaign do its homework on this guy before foisting him on the unsuspecting public and McCain himself?
5) If Joe's financial information is so readily available, if the spelling of his last name is similar to that of someone related to the Keating 5 story, why didn't the McCain campaign know that and possibly shield the Senator?
The campaign is floundering and with so few days left it is not time to "cough up the ball..." We did not need the show and tell of "Joe the plumber, not the plumber"
I am a staunch democrat but, I do feel bad watching this campaign staff, for all their brilliance, reduce this man to nothing more than a caricature of who he appeared to be in 2000. If this is going to be his last political dance, only 11/4 can really determine that, they should respect him enough to protect him from undo wounds. Especially the ones that are not self-inflicted. Rightly so McCain should be respected and revered by everyone living in the U.S. but, first he must be revered by his own party and his staff.
screw joe the plumber. the more i find out about this guy the scummier he seems to get. if he's going to be allowed to misrepresent himself, his income, and how obama's tax plan effects him (or doesn't), then he ought to be held accountable. three weeks before a presidential election and this guy gets a free pass to do his own mini-version of a swift-boat attack? screw him.
Submitted by Curios, but Cynical (not verified) on Fri Oct. 17, 2008 6:47 AM PDT.
What I care about is the manner in which Joe has been introduced to the public. Was it a McCain spy in the crowd who witnessed the conversation with Obama who brought him to the McCain camp? or was Joe planted by the McCain camp to approach Obama to begin this act of the play???
Forget the character attacks, however deserved or not. Let's deal with the actual issue that was raised. Here's a relevant excerpt from the (very) conservative Wall Street Journal article of OCTOBER 17, 2008, '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."
Yep facts are pesky things.
As a legal plumber from 1974 until 1997, when I was no longer able to do the very physical work of the Construction industry due to many work related injuries, I resent the implications that being qualified does not matter. A simple cross connection by Joe the illegal plumber can directly put feces into the potable water supply all the way back to the water treatment plant. YUMMY huh?
I maintained my license for all of those years updating my qualifications and knowledge for all of that time so I could installl sanitary systems with confidence in the public safety.
My unions in the cities I worked in would not dispatch a worker to a job unless he was an actual qualified, licensed journeyman. Apprentices were required to work under the direct supervision of a qualified journeyman.
The Contractors I worked for were also required to have a liscense from the state to do plumbing as a contractor.
Are you drinking feces provided by Joe the plumber and the many fly by night workers and contractors like him?
I was trained both in the classroom and in the construction field on work sites, supervised by journeymen for 5 years. 10,000 hrs of classroom and 10,000 hrs of job site training were required to be eligible to take a journeyman plumbing test. As I approached the end of my career, the localities began to give open book tests due to the inability of many Joe the plumber like men and women that could not pass the test no matter how many times they took the closed book test. When I took these tests each year, I was often asked by the prioctors if I was some kind of Engineer because I only took about 30 minutes to take the test. I always answered that, NO, I am a qualified plumber.
it is something that should not matter, but this has been made an issue by the McCain people. Turned out that he seems to be a plant and more of the low down tactics of the McCain campaign. The reason that him not being a plumber is an example of how far the McCain people will go.
Joe the plumber is not a plumber!
he doesn't have a plumber,s license, a contractor's license, or a union card. He probably employs illegal aliens, pays no taxes at all of any kind, pays his employees on 1099's. Pays no unemployment, workers comp or
liability insurance. Joe the plumber is a SCAB! Typical republican.
It does matter. This guy is the poster child for the McCain campaign, hijacking an idiotic 'debate', and Obama lets him get away with it.
He is really "Samuel the businessman" - a tax deadbeat, not a licensed plumber, probably just a boss, not a person who actually works as a plumber, a man who cannot do the financial math involved, and who, if did make the profit that would make a difference, is then someone I don't really give a shit about.
I care about real plumbers, and this guy is just an imposter. Unmasking imposters in a good thing.
