we should have gone straight to the one expert who seems to agree with John's tax proposal. I don't mean some PhD economist or tax law expert or even a CPA; I'm talking of course, about Joe the Plumber, the fellow whose concerns about Obama's tax proposal has made him one of the most well known men -- and certainly the best known plumber on the planet at the moment. If that notoriety alone doesn't translate into financial success for Joe, it will be only because he'd rather not be in a higher tax bracket.According to Joe Wurtzelberger, a progressive tax structure is Robin Hood socialism and John McCain seems to agree. I particularly liked his oily sneer when he repeated his "spread the wealth around" formula, but I wonder how that meshes with the spreading around of wealth inherent in supply side economics. It's only the direction of the trickle that differs after all, not the redistribution.
Of course Joe seems to have misunderstand what the differences are, and who can blame him? Like all of us he's been bombarded with ugly stereotypes of tax and spend liberals all his life and to be fair, it's complicated, but Joe is wrong. If he buys a business that grosses more than $250,000, he will not be propelled into a higher tax bracket by that fact alone. Surely Joe understands the difference between gross and net and knows about all the expenses and other deductions available. It's very unlikely that the business would net that much and therefore be subject to a tax increase of any kind. It's not very nice of his "Buddy" John not to have explained that to his "best buddy."
For one thing Obama's plan offers additional benefits like a tax credit for new employees and the elimination of Capital Gains for small businesses. Even if the business is wildly successful, and with all this notoriety, it may well be, the increase would be 3%. He would be better off in Obama's America than he would have been in Ronald Reagan's or John McCain's.
Very much to Mr. Wurtzelbacher's credit, he's not endorsing anyone yet. After all, his future and my future depend on a lot more than a 3% potential tax hike that's very unlikely to affect him. A new and deep recession may make it all moot if McCain's leadership is not much better than George Bush's.
All in all, the scenario is not what Joe fears it would be, it is not what John McCain misrepresents it to be and it's very very far from anything one could honestly describe as "spreading the wealth around" even if it's said without the squint and sneer and rubbing of hands. But then we're talking about John McCain's claims about his tax policy and not about honesty and to quote another plumber and funny guy I used to know - that shit don't flush.
Flush that shit does not, indeed. All the 'publicans want to do is go back to the good old days when Herbert Hoover was the steady hand at the tiller. The sight of Dickensian urchins in the streets and starving widows in snowbanks would no doubt intensify the already intense angle of Dick Cheney's crooked grin. Well, I suppose the Democrats should trot out their own nauseating and patronizing everyperson, but I hope they don't. Increasingly, when I watch those focus groups of undecided voters hemming and hawing about the candidates' proposals, I am filled with certitude that things really WERE better in the Jurassic. How can a species have so much brain capacity and so little capacity or inclination to use it? I make do with a walnut-sized apparatus, and even I can see through McCain and his empty-headed running mate.
ReplyDeleteOf course by now, Joe doesn't seem to have been the best choice for best buddy, but that's typical of McCain's choices -- if in fact it's him making the choices.
ReplyDeleteThings might well have been better in the Jurasic, but it helps if you're at least 60 feet long and weigh 20 tons.
I'm just a stuck in the Pleistocene kind of a guy.
Great post, Fogg! For me, it sums up the anti-intellectual atmosphere that has dominated American politics and captures the sense of mediocrity that brought us to this sorrowful state. Joe Six-Pack! Joe The Plumber! Indeed!
ReplyDeleteSo how much does it really cost to get a man of intellect into the White House? My estimate: About $10 trillion. Lets see: $5 trillion - double the national debt; $3 trillion - Iraq and Afghan wars, and $2 trillion - bailout money. Did I miss anything? Sounds almost like the “End of Days,” doesn’t it?
End of Days. Yes, a liberal in the White House will surely be the End of Days. No, make that a liberal black man in the White House, and they will call him the “Anti-Christ.” The day of reckoning is near.
But one can always keep Judgment Day at bay just a little bit longer by putting one more dumb white guy in the White House … that great champion and defender of Joe Six-Pack, Joe the Plumber, Joe Blow.
Although polling results are favorable, an Obama victory is by no means assured. Anything can happen before Election Day ... oops ... Judgement Day. An October surprise? And even if our liberal black man Anti-Christ wins, there will always be Joe Six-Pack and Joe the Plumber ready to defend the faith and lynch him. End of Days.
Fogg, I hope you have Blue Moon ready to sail. We may need you still. I’ll supply the beer.
Actually I'll be leaving shortly and won't be back in port until Sunday - unless we get raptured, of course.
ReplyDeleteB-Dino - last night on CNN there was a Focus group of Debate Watchers made up of those puzzling undecideds. Women. The tone of the piece was ALL women think . . . resisting the urge to turn OFF the set, I watched - curious to hear what this group thought of the Women's Health comment by McCain.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely NOTHING was said - unless it was edited out of what was already a trivializing news story about women voters. NOTHING! I hope & pray that at least some of the women in the room said something - or at least growled in their throats - when McCain dissed their health needs. BUT - if they did - CNN chose not to share.
Fogg, have a safe and pleasant journey, and say “hello” to our comrades in the deep blue sea.
ReplyDeletesquid, hmmmm.... that's disappointing, but I guess we shouldn't have much confidence in undecideds at this point. If they're still not able to establish clear priorities so late in the game, they'll probably just flip a coin when they vote. Perhaps, though, the Obama campaign should be making ads with JMac's air quote gesture and his mockery of the phrase in question. I think the most damaging spot they've put out is the one in which McCain panders to the right by saying that he voted with Bush 90% of the time. Kind of hard to refute something that he said about himself, no?
ReplyDeleteAnd here's wishing a fine trip to Capt. Fogg. Watch out for those pesky mososaurs and the occasional trilobyte.