Joe the Plumber was Right

During the last presidential campaign a short conversation made national news.  While Obama was shaking hand and kissing babies, a man by the name of Joe Wurzelbacher (a.k.a Joe the Plumber) stepped forward and asked the future President why his tax plan would punish him for starting a business and the eventual expanding of that business. 

The premise of the discussion was that Obama’s tax plan would tax at a higher rate those who made over $250K.  Joe’s question was if he started his business at $250K, but wanted to expand, why should he be punished for that expansion.  The total discussion took about five minutes and culminated with the now famous line by President Obama, “When you spread the wealth around, I think it is good for everybody.” 

After this conversation made national news, conservatives groups, such as the Tea Party, clung to Joe and used his quotes as proof of Obama’s agenda of socialism.   Obama campaign did their best to spin it as a case for their tax program.  In the end Joe became a hero to the Right and a villain to the Left.

Ever since Obama’s election, the conservatives have been pointing out events in Obama policy that allude to his socialist agenda.  Policy changes such as Healthcare, extending unemployment benefits without end and repealing some of Bill Clinton’s welfare changes that limited who and how much money was distributed. 

On December 6, 2011 during a campaign a speech he gave in Osawatomie, Texas (or Kansas he wasn’t sure), Obama laid out his socialist agenda.  While quoting the ill fated campaign of Theodore Roosevelt, he gave us his plan for the next four years.  President Obama’s focus will be in strengthening the middle class.  He will do this by increasing taxes on the rich, stiffening bank regulation, infrastructure projects, affordable college education and the creation of a new bureaucratic Consumer Watchdog Agency.

All of this sounds great and he makes the case that all of these initiatives will increase jobs for the middle class and strengthen our economy.  This plan for his next term sounds startlingly familiar to his plan for the stimulus package he put forth at the beginning of his first term.  That stimulus plan has done nothing for the health of the country, except to extend its debts and hold the economy hostage under an umbrella of uncertainty.

How does he expect to pay for this; easy, by making the tax code more fair.  He says he will, “require American business leaders to understand that their obligations don’t just end with their shareholders.” Also, for those who have gained wealth through a successful life he will make a tax code that will be “asking everyone to do their fair share.”   We know that doesn’t mean a flat tax.  Instead, the President makes the simple assumption that, “our wealthiest citizens would agree to contribute a little more.” 

For those who think this is a good plan, to tax the rich, I must point out that a 100% tax on the income of the top 1% would not make a dent in our deficit.  Also, when the government realizes its spending has exceeded the tax collected on the 1%, where will they go for more?  Maybe the middle class?  It would be their only option.

There are those who see his speech in Kansas (or Texas) and see a leader taking a strong stand for the middle class.  Obama is protecting the working man from the tyranny of the evil capitalist businessmen.  He says we must, “extend a payroll tax cut that’s set to expire at the end of this month.  If we don’t do that, 160 million Americans will see their taxes go up by an average of $1,000, and it would badly weaken our recovery.”  Admittedly, there is bi-partisan support for this tax cut because it looks good on the paychecks of the American workers, but that money has a purpose.  The pay roll tax is the money train for Social Security.  When we stop collecting that tax it only draws the S.S. doomsday clock closer to zero.  When S.S. runs out, who does that hurt?  Not the rich, but the middle class you have been told to depend on it.

More importantly, he says, “This is about the nation’s welfare.”  Obama has a double meaning behind this.  He is discussing the overall wellbeing of the country.  Yet in the context of the entire speech, he is most certainly speaking about the nation’s dependent class.  The growing population of those living off government funds is no accident.  Within his socialist ideals (increase taxation, overreaching regulation and more government spending) producing a class of people that are dependent on the government is key to his re-election.

All the while, the rich will stay rich.  Why else would the rich support him?  People like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Alec Baldwin or Michael Moore continue to support him because they have wealth not tied to income (not to mention countless loopholes).  They have wealth tied to investments; therefore, their actually income is low and are not effected by a jump in the income tax.  The people that are truly hurt are the guys that Joe the Plumber provided an example for, a small business man who exists on the low end of the ‘rich’ tax bracket.  Considering roughly 1 in 2 people working the United States is employed by or operates a small business, Obama’s tax plan will negatively effect the middle class.

Obama has no intention of solving our problems.  In fact, he sees our current situation as a means to an end.  In the socialist arena this is the stepping stone to more government control.  Overreaching control of government into the lives of its citizens guarantees that the removal of those government entities becomes harder.  Additionally, creating more government agencies becomes easier.  All of which creates a larger more depended welfare class.  A class of slaves addicted to government money and beholden to their suppliers, the Democratic Party.