Thursday, October 16, 2008

Joe the Plumber

As big a hit as Joe the Plumber was last night, now that he's using his 15 minutes to speak out, he's looking like an idiot.
"To be honest with you, that infuriates me," plumber Joe Wurzelbacher told Nightline's Terry Moran. "It's not right for someone to decide you made too much---that you've done too good and now we're going to take some of it back."

Yes Joe, if you make a quarter of a million dollars, you will have to pay more. It's called "paying your taxes, like every other American." And if you make half a million dollars, you pay even more! It's how the shit works - would you rather stay where you are, making $50,000 (arbitrary guess) and paying less taxes? Be my guest. And Joe, aren't you campaigning for a guy whose party LOVES to remind us how the top 1% pays for like 25% of all taxes? Hey, congratulations, you're a part of that group now, enjoy it. Or, I'm sorry, are you planning on making exactly $250K every single year? Never more? I'm sorry, but you have to have a better argument than "I don't wanna pay more taxes if I get richer!"

I remember a few years ago a friend of mine's dad was furious cause he was paying over $10k/month in taxes. I looked around at his huge house and boats et al and thought gee, I hope I have that problem one day.

Side note: this quote irks me too.
"I don't like it," said Wurzelbacher. "You know, me or -- you know, Bill Gates, I don't care who you are. If you worked for it, if it was your idea, and you implemented it, it's not right for someone to decide you made too much."

Really? "Plumbing" was Joe's idea? I'd say this is a false analogy; Gates can lay more of a claim to personal computers being his "own idea" than Joe can with plumbing.

Bottom line: pressure's on Joe -let's all check back in one year and see how he did!! :)

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