Of "Joe the Plumber" and Socialism

In case you have been living under a rock (or just don't watch TV or read the news) over the last week, you've probably heard something about a guy in Ohio that's nicknamed "Joe the Plumber" that has accidentally catipulted himself into the national spotlight due to a discussion he had with Barak Obama when the Democratic candidate visited his town near Toledo, Ohio and made a campaign visit to his neighborhood... this discussion happened to get on camera and has been talked about in the media, YouTube videos, and social media and THEN became prominent when Joe's name was mentioned over 2 dozen times in the third Presidential debate.  

I first heard about Joe when I got home late on Wednesday from a busy day and checked my Facebook account to find all kinds of status alerts mentioning "Joe the Plumber" and "Average Joe," etc...  my thoughts were...

"Oh no, not another remake of the 'Average Joe' reality show."  (the one where 12 really goofy guys try to score in a "The Bachelor" style reality show).  

Of course, I post on my status my "what's up with this Joe the Plumber thing?" line on Facebook and get in the know about the "Joe the Plumber story."  The key thing that Barak Obama said when debating Joe was that he wanted to "spread the wealth" - in terms of his tax plans to raise taxes on people making more than $250,000 (or $200,000, depending on which moment in the debate he was talking) - and the fact that if Joe followed through with his plans to eventually buy his plumbing business and grow it that his taxes would shoot up.  Barak then had a debate with him attempting to justify his tax hikes to Joe and ended with the now-famous line at the end of that exchange that (according to Barak Obama) things would be better if we "spread the wealth around."  

 Below is the raw video from that exchange...

Now, the point was made in the debate about this "spread the wealth" comment in the exchange and the obvious connections of the philosophy Barak Obama has been pitching and socialism.  In fact, in later interviews that the major news stations have set up with Joe, Joe comes out with his take that this approach that Barak Obama is so strongly pushing is in fact socialism.  

I agree, wholeheartedly.... not based on the simple "spread the wealth" comment and the fact that Barak Obama never repudiates it, but on the pure philosophy of his tax plan. In his plan, there are people who make "too much" money that should be taxed more (to support his programs, such as national health care, etc.) and people who don't make enough that would get a "tax cut."  The problem is not in the $250,000/year line of demarcation that he has set... it is in fact the fact that he has set a line of demarcation in which he defines those that will PAY and those that will RECEIVE.  In later interviews, Joe the Plumber (to the dismay of the mainstream media that is largely stumping for Obama) rightly says that this is a slippery slope... today the line is drawn at $250,000, tomorrow it could be decided that $100,000 is too much... later $75,000 (the line of demarcation for the stimulus package).... and still later $42,500 (which Barak voted to raise taxes on when he was in the legislature).  The fact remains that he wants to redistribute wealth from the "haves" to the "have nots" and in light of that fact the line of demarcation is really immaterial if you think about it.  

One of Joe the Plumber's comments, however, is probably a little late in coming.  The start of the slippery slope may have already started if you think about it... in the form of a compromise economic stimulus package negotiated between George W. Bush and the Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi in which it was decided that those making under $75,000 (if single, $150,000 if married) would get a $600($1200) check and those making more than that got nothing... it is true that people that paid no Federal income taxes received stimulus checks while people that paid a ton of money in taxes received nothing.  Is this not socialism too?  So, what is this talk about "being different than George W. Bush" and "change" about...  isn't "spreading the wealth" according to the last 8 years (or at least the last 2) really more of the same and then some?  I don't know about you, but that scares me a little.  

And it does blue collar people that work hard too... notice how he talks in the Good Morning America interview with Diane Sawyer, and how much Diane tries to lecture Joe about how this is a good thing and "it's only 3%" etc.  (I could say more about this but I won't).  It's crazy. 

I think that the biggest truth of this exchange is that the "rich fat cats" that Barak Obama really wants to tax isn't just rich CEOs of Fortune 500 companies with golden parachutes (GRRR)... the rich guy (or gal) that he wants to tax is...

YOU!!!!!   and Me.