Barack Obama calls Joe the Plumber...

by TE2
15 replies
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Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Joe the Plumber to come and fix it.




Joe drives to Obama's house, which is located in a very nice neighborhood and where it's clear that all the residents make more than $250,000 per year.




Joe arrives and takes his tools into the house. Joe is led to the room that contains the leaky pipe under a sink. Joe assesses the problem and tells Obama, who is standing near the door, that it's an easy repair that will take less than 10 minutes.





Obama asks Joe how much it will cost.



Joe immediately says, "$9,500."



"$9,500?" Obama asks, stunned. "But you said it's an easy repair!"



"Yes, but what I do is charge a lot more to my clients who make more than $250,000 per year so I can fix the plumbing ofeverybody who makes less than that for free," explains Joe. "It'salwaysbeen my philosophy. As a matter of fact, I lobbied government to pass this philosophy as law, and it did pass earlier this year, so now all plumbers have to do business this way. It's known as 'Joe's Fair Plumbing Act of 2008.' Surprised you haven't heard of it, senator."



In spite of that, Obama tells Joe there's no way he's paying that much for a small plumbing repair, so



Joe leaves.



Obama spends the next hour flipping through the phone book looking for another plumber, but he finds that all other plumbing businesses listed have gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Joe's price, Obama does nothing.



The leak under Obama's sink goes unrepaired for the next several days.



A week later the leak is so bad that Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink. The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and there's a risk that the room will flood, so Obama calls Joe and pleads with him to return.



Joe goes back to Obama's house, looks at the leaky pipe, and says "Let's see - this will cost you about $21,000."



"A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!" Obama quickly fires back.



Joe explains the reason for the dramatic increase. "Well, because of the 'Joe's Fair Plumbing Act,' a lot of rich people are learning how to fix their own plumbing, so there are fewer of you paying for all the free plumbing I'm doing for the people who make less than $250,000. As a result, the rate I have to charge my wealthy paying customers rises every day. Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work from the group of people who get it for free has skyrocketed, and there's a long waiting list of those who need repairs. This has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, and they're not being replaced - nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they won't make any money. I'm hurting now too - all thanks to greedy rich people like you who won't pay their fair share."



Obama tries to straighten out the plumber: "Of course you're hurting, Joe! Don't you get it? If all the rich people learn how to fix their own plumbing and you refuse to charge the poorer people for your services, you'll be broke, and then what will you do?"



Joe immediately replies, "Run for president, apparently."
  • Profile picture of the author getsmartt
    Good one, now if people would only look at everything this logically
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    You want to look at things logically?

    Flat Rate tax. Can't get more logical than that.
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    • Profile picture of the author TE2
      Originally Posted by KimW View Post

      You want to look at things logically?

      Flat Rate tax. Can't get more logical than that.
      We're in sync on this issue.

      I support it but I doubt it will ever happen without a major revolt of the taxpayers.

      Taxes are one of the major tools politicians use to control the public.

      John
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      • Profile picture of the author KimW
        Originally Posted by TE2 View Post

        We're in sync on this issue.

        I support it but I doubt it will ever happen without a major revolt of the taxpayers.

        Taxes are one of the major tools politicians use to control the public.

        John
        Major taxpayer revolt?
        I'm in, where do I sign up?
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        • Profile picture of the author getsmartt
          Originally Posted by KimW View Post

          Major taxpayer revolt?
          I'm in, where do I sign up?
          Count me in as well, isn't that how this great country got started in the first place
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          • Profile picture of the author TimPhelan
            Originally Posted by getsmartt View Post

            Count me in as well, isn't that how this great country got started in the first place
            I like a flat tax or sales tax also.

            Don't worry about Obama that much though. He's not going to mess things up any more than Bush. In fact I think he will do a much better job.

            BTW, very good domains you have there.
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            • Profile picture of the author getsmartt
              Originally Posted by TimPhelan View Post

              Don't worry about Obama that much though. He's not going to mess things up any more than Bush. In fact I think he will do a much better job.

              BTW, very good domains you have there.
              Well...I am definitely afraid of Obama, but unfortunately have no use for McCain either, and the libertarians are running a lousy candidate and would be a wasted vote anyways, so any way you look at it, I'm not happy or represented.

              thanks for the kudos on the sites though
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  • Profile picture of the author espacecadet
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Grossman
      Originally Posted by espacecadet View Post

      I believe the U.S. is one of the leading nations in number of people who do not have money in savings.
      Too many Americans live on debt and that's never good.
      It's one of the contributing factors to the meltdown that just happened.

      Until just very recently, the US national savings rate was actually negative. That means people were, on average across the whole country, spending more than they were earning. They were taking out multiple credit cards and lines of credit on their homes and spending it as if they earned that money.

      Loans, which are the whole issue with the credit crunch now, can only be made if there are savings for the banks to lend. That's why the government is pumping so much cash into the banks, not as part of but on top of the "rescue plan" bill that was passed. They're trying to give them money to lend since the US population hasn't saved enough money for them to feel confident making more loans.
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Dan and Allen, (I'm calling you Allen because I'm tired of saying espacecadet) two good posts and both spot on in my opinion.
    Yes,there is a toss up between flat tax and national sales tax and I would take either one over our current system.
    It's sad that we cannot morrally monitor ourselves which is why we need government intervention.
    Our financial institutions are out of control. They give credit cards to people that have no business getting them,then they charge rates that 25 years ago were illegal. And we accept it like sheep.
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    • Profile picture of the author getsmartt
      Originally Posted by KimW View Post

      It's sad that we cannot morrally monitor ourselves which is why we need government intervention.
      Our financial institutions are out of control. They give credit cards to people that have no business getting them,then they charge rates that 25 years ago were illegal. And we accept it like sheep.

      I have a distinct distaste for morals and government being mentioned in the same breath. Our current government cannot live up to our current morals, why would anyone want them governing morals?

      Our financial institutions did stupid stuff, while being encouraged by stupid policy from our government, and gullible people got themselves way over their head in debt.

      Had our stupid government allowed those stupid financial institutions fail, maybe their fellow financial institutions might have learned a few lessons.

      If our stupid government allows these gullible people who got themselves into way too much debt to fail, maybe they will learn a lesson as well.

      Now if we could just get our stupid government to learn a few lessons...
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      • Profile picture of the author KimW
        Originally Posted by getsmartt View Post

        I have a distinct distaste for morals and government being mentioned in the same breath. Our current government cannot live up to our current morals, why would anyone want them governing morals?
        ...
        You obviously did not comprehend the sentence.
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        • Profile picture of the author Wakunahum
          Originally Posted by KimW View Post

          You obviously did not comprehend the sentence.
          Instead of putting him down or whatever, why don't you just clarify your statement???
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          • Profile picture of the author KimW
            Originally Posted by Wakunahum View Post

            Instead of putting him down or whatever, why don't you just clarify your statement???
            It's not a put down, it's a statement of how I'm interpeting his post.
            By the way, I grew up in Oklahoma.
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        • Profile picture of the author getsmartt
          Originally Posted by KimW View Post

          You obviously did not comprehend the sentence.
          Unless I totally misread you original sentence, it said and I paraphrase, because we cannot morally monitor ourselves the government should step in and do it for us.

          and I said if they cannot morally monitor themselves why would I want them morally monitoring us?
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          • Profile picture of the author KimW
            Originally Posted by getsmartt View Post

            Unless I totally misread you original sentence, it said and I paraphrase, because we cannot morally monitor ourselves the government should step in and do it for us.

            and I said if they cannot morally monitor themselves why would I want them morally monitoring us?
            I stand corrected, you did understand the basics. But by monitor ourselves I meant the financial institutes,not the general public.That portion that needs to step up and monitor is the government which IS suppose to represent the general public.
            In layman terms, since the financial istitutes have no moral problems raping us,we need responsible government which should be representing our best interests stepping in and stopping it.
            In all instances I realize this is a pipe dream.
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