Plumbing the depths using Joe the Plumber

Yesterday, Sen. McCain mentioned ‘Joe the Plumber’ 21 times at the debates. Apparently, Joe is some rich plumber in Ohio who happened to tell Obama that his plumbing business is set to make more than $250,000 a year and Obama’s tax policies might hit the business hard.

Big deal! Maybe Joe Plumber needs to get a couple of facts straight.

Only 2% of all households in these United States make more than $250,000 a year. That leaves 98% of all households below the $250,000 limit. The median income of all households in the United States is about $50,000. The tax policy proposed by Obama will only hit people making more than five times the median income = 2% of the population!

So, yesterday it was clear that Sen. McCain was speaking to the richest 2% of the people in the United States.

My response is this: If Joe the Plumber was asked to pay a little more taxes, suck it up and pay. You owe it to the people. The BS about trickle down or free market or laissez faire have not worked. A quick look at executive compensation and income disparities in the United States will tell you that. We need sensible policies that will give the 98% a chance.

Well, the machinations of the Jonah McPalin campaign have produced a motley cast of characters. Last week Gov. Palin gave us Joe Six-pack, this week Sen. McCain introduced us to Joe Plumber. Who know, next week we might need to get ready for Joe the Lyncher.


This ad from the Obama campaign tells us of the percentage of times McCain voted with Bush. In McCain's own words!!

Flawed on many levels

Below are four news snippets that have hidden issues associated with the $700,000,000,000.00 bailout in the papers today: The first smacks of 'inbred nepotism', the second an instance of 'the fox guarding the henhouse', the third reeks of 'siphoning public cash to the CEOs' whilst the fourth talks about 'a clear conflict of interest'.

• The Treasury Department said that it would soon post help-wanted ads on its Web site for asset managers to run the bailout program and that because of the urgency, the hiring may be “through other than full and open competition.”
• Former Goldman Sachs employee, Neel Kashkari has been appointed the bailout czar and will lead the bailout. By the way, a useful way to pronounce this Indian last name is ‘Cash Carry’ per Michelle. Fitting indeed.
• Under a proposal being discussed with the Treasury Department, the Fed could buy vast amounts of the unsecured short-term debt that companies rely on to finance their day-to-day activities. The move would put more taxpayer dollars at risk. Buying commercial paper could open the Fed to difficult conflicts of interest, because it would be juggling the goals of protecting its investment portfolio with its traditional goals of promoting stable prices and low unemployment.
• Administration officials plan to outsource almost the entire bailout effort, which will largely rely on “reverse auctions” in which the government accepts bids from financial institutions that want to sell their troubled assets. The Treasury is accepting bids only from experienced investment managers, almost all of which are likely to be either sellers or buyers of mortgage-backed securities.

Is it any wonder that the economy is in shambles? Meanwhile, the presidential candidates seem to be busy launching personal attacks at each other. Nero fiddles while... The bailout looks more and more like a big 'up yours' neon sign out of D.C.

Photos of Kwang-Young Chun's mulberry paper on small polystyrene form sculptures at the Robert Miller Gallery (exhibition on from Sept 4 - Oct 11)