Joe the Plumber is a SBG!

[Razor X]

he said "the wealth" ...  not " your (Joe's) wealth"

I was paraphrasing.   

Come on bro...

BIG difference between "the" and "your"...

cuz all I know is I'm in the "your"=(true "Average Joe" in my book) catagory

ok...I'm done

So if I'm concerned that my taxes are about to go up and I ask a presidential candidate how I'm going to be impacted by his plan and he tells me that the plan is going to spread "the" wealth around, I'm supposed to conclude that he's talking about somebody else's wealth and not mine?   

Silly me, how could I have failed to realize that.   

[BALDANDRE]

he said "the wealth" ...  not " your (Joe's) wealth"

I was paraphrasing.   

Come on bro...

BIG difference between "the" and "your"...

cuz all I know is I'm in the "your"=(true "Average Joe" in my book) catagory

ok...I'm done

So if I'm concerned that my taxes are about to go up and I ask a presidential candidate how I'm going to be impacted by his plan and he tells me that the plan is going to spread "the" wealth around, I'm supposed to conclude that he's talking about somebody else's wealth and not mine?   

Silly me, how could I have failed to realize that.   

Sure, if you consider yourself wealthy...

you might be the one of ones that's extra taxed..

I just know I'm not in that catagory!

[GASlick]

Peace and love
 

Peace and love
 

Happy thoughts...........

[D.A.L.U.I.]

Poor Joe the Plumber, he's been put under the microscope like all public figures, and now we know he doesn't have a plumber's license and he's back on his taxes.  I think it makes him more of an average American than we'd like to think about.  Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes of Fame are going to do a number on this guy.  It was interesting though, I noticed he wasn't "cleanly" shaven in the first appearance, but in a subsequent interview he was sly, clean and smooth.  What are Leno and the Late Night Guys going to do w/ this dude?

[Brkeatr]

What are Leno and the Late Night Guys going to do w/ this dude?

Probably UP their ratings....

[Dome of Steele]

By next week everyone will forget about him.  Hilarious how just asking a question landing him this much attention. 

[BALDANDRE]

Just thought it would be nice to end this with this link...

see, politics do blow and there is no place for them here..(even if this wasn't close to being political talk )...every side just tries to confuse everything!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/howmuchdoplumbersreallymake#full

[Tyler]

Just thought it would be nice to end this with this link...

see, politics do blow and there is no place for them here..(even if this wasn't close to being political talk )...every side just tries to confuse everything!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/howmuchdoplumbersreallymake#full

When the article quotes:

As for Wurzelbacher, based on the region of the country he works in, the amount of experience he has, and the fact that he is unlicensed, he could be currently making anywhere between $40,000 and $70,000 - and no, he won't get stung by the Obama tax plan even if he buys that business. Still, not bad for an average Joe.

That is hugely irresponsible journalism.  Mostly because they don't know which business he's attempting to buy.  And second, if they did, they wouldn't be able to tell how much he would make unless they did due diligence on the finances of the business. 

I can tell you that the two friends of mine that do own plumbing business with less than 10 employees make well over $250,000 a year.

[BALDANDRE]

Just thought it would be nice to end this with this link...

see, politics do blow and there is no place for them here..(even if this wasn't close to being political talk )...every side just tries to confuse everything!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/howmuchdoplumbersreallymake#full

When the article quotes:

As for Wurzelbacher, based on the region of the country he works in, the amount of experience he has, and the fact that he is unlicensed, he could be currently making anywhere between $40,000 and $70,000 - and no, he won't get stung by the Obama tax plan even if he buys that business. Still, not bad for an average Joe.

That is hugely irresponsible journalism.  Mostly because they don't know which business he's attempting to buy.  And second, if they did, they wouldn't be able to tell how much he would make unless they did due diligence on the finances of the business. 

I can tell you that the two friends of mine that do own plumbing business with less than 10 employees make well over $250,000 a year.

Very true and I agree!

But most "Average Joe's" do not make anywhere near 250k a year...

lets make that a little more realistic and say around 50k-60k..

and believe it or not THAT is still a very good wage...as it was about 15 years ago...

decent mid range job wages are around 20-25 bucks an hour (with "education")...

and THATS really the problem!

[Razor X]

Very true and I agree!

But most "Average Joe's" do not make anywhere near 250k a year...

lets make that a little more realistic and say around 50k-60k..

and believe it or not THAT is still a very good wage...as it was about 15 years ago...

decent mid range job wages are around 20-25 bucks an hour (with "education")...

and THATS really the problem!

I caught part of an interview on TV yesterday and the Obama spokeswoman was asked to clarify if the $250K threshold was gross or net income, and she replied that it was gross income.      Hopefully she was mistaken, because if it really is gross income, that's going to hit a lot of small businesses very hard.  Using Tyler's example, the business would have to gross more than $250K just to pay the salaries for the ten employees.

[BALDANDRE]

Very true and I agree!

But most "Average Joe's" do not make anywhere near 250k a year...

lets make that a little more realistic and say around 50k-60k..

and believe it or not THAT is still a very good wage...as it was about 15 years ago...

decent mid range job wages are around 20-25 bucks an hour (with "education")...

and THATS really the problem!

I caught part of an interview on TV yesterday and the Obama spokeswoman was asked to clarify if the $250K threshold was gross or net income, and she replied that it was gross income.      Hopefully she was mistaken, because if it really is gross income, that's going to hit a lot of small businesses very hard.  Using Tyler's example, the business would have to gross more than $250K just to pay the salaries for the ten employees.

Once again, true.. if that's the case..

but even more true is the fact, that one simple reason we, as a country are in a huge mess is this..

the national average "good income" is 50k..historically (until now) home prices (median) have NEVER been 4 times greater than the average income..

so in a lot of cases it takes 2 incomes to afford basic needs..100k gets you by if you have a 200k mortgage and bills that all families have...

that STILL does not come close to 250k...with all the huge numbers people throw around 250k is still quite large...

and unfortunately (and yes it sucks) that makes 250k (even as a business) the taxable "rich"...

we need to work on our overall salaries folks!

[Razor X]

the national average "good income" is 50k..historically (until now) home prices (median) have NEVER been 4 times greater than the average income..

so in a lot of cases it takes 2 incomes to afford basic needs..100k gets you by if you have a 200k mortgage and bills that all families have...

that STILL does not come close to 250k...with all the huge numbers people throw around 250k is still quite large...

and unfortunately (and yes it sucks) that makes 250k (even as a business) the taxable "rich"...

we need to work on our overall salaries folks!

But taxing the rich is not going to make salaries for anyone go up. Quite the opposite.

I can remember back in the 80s my dad used to get at least a 10% raise every year.  Nowadays we are lucky if we get 2 or 3% a year.  The justification for the lower raises has always been that inflation was much higher in the 80s, but in the past year alone the cost of nearly everything has skyrocketed but we're still getting the same measly raises.  It's definitely harder to get your salary higher these days.  I haven't looked for a job in a long time, but a friend of mine who was looking last year came across several that had more responsibility than his current job, but the pay was also significantly lower.

[Tyler]

Don't get me wrong, I think that much of the markets are overpriced, such as real estate in many areas of the country.  That will be corrected since people can't afford it, thus allowing people to afford a house easier.  Salaries only rise when a supply of workers in a particular job segment is not plentiful enough to fill the demand.  This is why the salaries where I live are so much higher than other areas of the country.  Due to all the requirements for tech people, companies have to compete for them by offering higher salaries and other benefits. 

[Tyler]

Very true and I agree!

But most "Average Joe's" do not make anywhere near 250k a year...

lets make that a little more realistic and say around 50k-60k..

and believe it or not THAT is still a very good wage...as it was about 15 years ago...

decent mid range job wages are around 20-25 bucks an hour (with "education")...

and THATS really the problem!

I caught part of an interview on TV yesterday and the Obama spokeswoman was asked to clarify if the $250K threshold was gross or net income, and she replied that it was gross income.      Hopefully she was mistaken, because if it really is gross income, that's going to hit a lot of small businesses very hard.  Using Tyler's example, the business would have to gross more than $250K just to pay the salaries for the ten employees.

She had to be misquoted.  People would not allow a bill that taxed gross wages.

[Tyler]

I can remember back in the 80s my dad used to get at least a 10% raise every year.  Nowadays we are lucky if we get 2 or 3% a year.  The justification for the lower raises has always been that inflation was much higher in the 80s, but in the past year alone the cost of nearly everything has skyrocketed but we're still getting the same measly raises.  It's definitely harder to get your salary higher these days.  I haven't looked for a job in a long time, but a friend of mine who was looking last year came across several that had more responsibility than his current job, but the pay was also significantly lower.

Your pay is directly related to your willingness to have an increase in salary.  If your boss doesn't give you a raise, you either didn't do enough to convince him/her that you're worth it or they can't financially afford it.  Either way, if you really need that raise, you should find a company that is willing to pay you the money that you want.  If you don't, then you have traded that increase in raise for something you feel is more important.