Meet Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher

Joe Wurzelbacher probably didn't know how his life was going to change when he approached Senator Obama at a rally and asked him questions about his tax policy.

In the presidential debate last night Joe was mentioned 23 times, as both politicians tried to use him as an example as to why their economic plans were best.

Joe had originally questioned Obama, because he says he wants to buy the business he works for. But the business makes between $250,000 and $280,000 a year so might be taxed a little more under Obama's plan.

The exact amount of tax that Obama would charge him is actually less than $1,100 more, even if he makes the larger of the two amounts he claims the business makes. With no increase at all towards the bottom end of his range.

Since the debate Joe The Plumber (who actually doesn't even have a license as a plumber), has been on TV, interviewed by the news networks. And although he won't admit he is going to vote for McCain (who would?), he has spouted various stupid opinions in the media.

Because the reality is that Joe The Plumber does not make that kind of money. Joe The Plumber would actually do better under President Obama. But like many Americans with the Horatio Alger myth in his head, he wants tax policy changed to help the richest 5% of Americans, just in case he makes it into that category! That's the same kind of trickle down bullshit that Bush has been peddling for eight years!

So to recap, Joe The Plumber, wants to screw himself by supporting McCain, just in case he gets his plumber's license, raises the money to buy the business (good luck with that after what Bush has done to the economy), and then manages to push his business over the quarter million dollar mark. Because then he might save himself a little bit of tax, which he could easily lose in other ways that the McCain administration would screw him.

Wow.

Joe The Plumber, in one of his interviews, even invoked the 'slippery slope' argument. He claimed that if Obama defines rich as making $250,000 a year, what is to stop him dropping that figure to $150K or even less.

It's about time Americans got a clue about tax. We can't fund the things we are doing indefinitely by borrowing money from China, and giving it to the Middle East. We are charging our countries' American Express card and we have to pay it back sooner or later.

Joe The Plumber tells us that the rich should not pay more, so where does the money come from Joe? How to we pay off the debt that Bush has left us without taxation?

Frankly the whole Joe The Plumber story is such bullshit. We have a guy too stupid to understand voting for his own best interests, getting prime time coverage, while our economy continues to tank, and Americans continue to die in Iraq policing a civil war we started. Even in the interview Joe gave, he basically admitted that all he is thinking about is his own future prosperity. He wants to get rich and hoard his money, while someone else picks up the bill for the failed policies of George W. Bush.

Say it ain't so Joe.