Joe The Plumber is in Middle Class Denial (personally I call it Delusions of Great Wealth)

Shallah Kali

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Fri Oct-17-08 12:49 AM
Original message

Joe The Plumber is in Middle Class Denial (personally I call it Delusions of Great Wealth)

Edited on Fri Oct-17-08 12:53 AM by Shallah

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/798

Joe the Plumber�s faulty logic is that he likes to imagine himself making $250,000 when he buys his plumbing company. He puts on confident and gruff airs like he�s Dick Cheney. He probably likens himself to Dick Cheney. He certainly likes to fantasize about being in the same tax-bracket at Dick Cheney. Be proud Joe. You are no Dick Cheney.

Conservatives like to talk about a level playing field with no referees, where the strong and the shrewd succeed. Yet today, it is only the conniving and manipulative who have a shot at wealth. The American Dream, that Joe the Plumber pines for, of working hard and making a fortune, is under the boot of corporations. In today�s world, Joe has about as much chance of becoming a wealthy plumber as his son does of playing in the NFL. Not saying, it can�t happen; just saying it is not very likely.

So, he pledges his allegiance to the conservative candidate, because he thinks by not paying taxes he will somehow start hob-knobbing with Bush, Cheney, and Limbaugh � all such self-made men. Meanwhile, he is shooting himself in the steel-toed boot because the Obama tax plan directly affects him where he really is, not where he imagines himself to be. If he really wants to pay less tax, he should embrace Obama, not reluctantly shake his hand, and then defend McCain and his fellow Republicans.

I found this interesting because I know so many people who are just like this from not just middle class but just plain poor wanting more tax cuts for the wealthy when the only way they will *ever* benefit from tax cuts for the wealthy is if they win the lottery. I *CAN'T* understand this and pointing out they will never reach that tax bracket, never be in a position to use a capital gains tax, and certainly their estate of small house, second-third-forth hand car won't get hit with the inheritance tax. There is rarely sympathy for their own kind - working people who have trouble to make ends meet. They resent people on welfare even when their own kids or themselves end up on it for months or even years. :WTF:

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On the Road

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Fri Oct-17-08 01:38 AM
Response to Original message

1. That is a Good Way to Descriibe It

They are brainwashed by being told what is good for the economy. But you would think even the more clueless would figure it out after awhile.

Note: And I have found from experience that similies are case sensitive.
:smoke:

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Shallah Kali

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Fri Oct-17-08 05:54 AM
Response to Reply #1

2. Excuse my crudeness but I would think they would realize it is not wealth that has trickled down....

That stuff drizzling down is the corporate elite taking a piss on the poor and middle class is what it is.

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4lbs

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Fri Oct-17-08 06:31 AM
Response to Original message

3. It always amazes me when people like this complain about politicians who want to...

roll back the Bush tax cuts, or even raise taxes on the wealthier 5% so that the lower 95% can have less taxes.

They always say "Why do you have to raise taxes on those making over $1 million, or $250,000 ?"

I always tell them, "You know what? Since you're only making, say, $50,000 a year, what do you care? Let me know when you reach the point where you are earning enough to be making a net $200,000 or more per year, and then we can talk while standing next to your million dollar home and your Lexus convertible about how you have to pay an extra $3000 in taxes per year."

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Lydia Leftcoast

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Fri Oct-17-08 10:17 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. And as for the right-wing canard about "only the wealthy creating jobs"

I'd say,

1. The wealthy wouldn't be able to make any money without employees and customers

2. Creating jobs actually lowers a company's taxes

Two facts the Republicans don't want you to know.

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bulloney

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Fri Oct-17-08 07:12 PM
Response to Reply #4

7. Most of the wealthy don't run businesses to create jobs per se.

They do it to make money. Nothing wrong with that. But don't give me this crap that they're on this noble mission to start up businesses with the sole purpose of creating jobs. They hire because they need labor to make money. If they could make that money without labor, they'd do it in a heartbeat.

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Lydia Leftcoast

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Sat Oct-18-08 08:44 AM
Response to Reply #7

9. As a lot of the "paper entrepreneurs" and "corporate raiders" did

They made money by destroying jobs.

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Doctor_J

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Fri Oct-17-08 12:55 PM
Response to Original message

5. Joe is part of the brainwashed Hate Radio class

His ignorance is so stunning that he probably can't buy groceries until Hannity tells him what to buy. The upside is that he's part of a dying breed, who will be as extinct as the dodo 10 years from now.

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Johnny Potpie

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Fri Oct-17-08 05:56 PM
Response to Original message

6. What Joe is.

Joe is somebody who doesn't care about people's true needs. Joe thinks it's OK for people to go without necessary healthcare. Joe thinks it's alright that schools in the inner cities are grossly underfunded. Joe doesn't care that your grandmother is fighting to pay for her prescritpion drugs. Joe doesn't believe in Social Justice. Basically, Joe is greedy. Well, Fuck Joe.

What this twerp is afraid of is that he's finally going to be forced to share his wealth. He's going to be forced to cooperate and participate as an equal citizen. He's afraid that we won't allow him to be the pig he wants to be. Even as kids on welfare scrape by, and single mothers have a hard time providing for their young. I'm sick of these people who only care about hording everything they have.

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bulloney

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Fri Oct-17-08 07:17 PM
Response to Reply #6

8. I've known a lot of Joe the Plumbers. You often learn that they benefit from public assistance

as much as anyone in the neighborhood. Only they don't think it's public assistance if they benefit from it; only when someone else benefits.

Farmers are the worst at this. I know some farmers who talk conservative. Then you find out that these farmers are the biggest recipients of farm program payments in the county.

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Karenina

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Sat Oct-18-08 01:08 PM
Response to Reply #6

10. Share "his" wealth? He has none

Edited on Sat Oct-18-08 01:09 PM by Karenina

other than piles of bullshit. Remember back in the day when there were issues of "character?" :rofl: Now THIS guy is a CHARACTER AND A CARICATURE! :rofl:

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