[Rhodes22-list] Hey Plumber Joe: Been There, Done That

[pdgrand at nospam.wmis.net]

October 17, 2008

Hey Plumber Joe: Been There, Done That

By C. Edmund Wright<http://www.americanthinker.com/c_edmund_wright/>

God love you Joe. Bless your heart Joe.  You, and people like you, are
what makes the country work. You make the country great. You get it -- you
act on it -- and you enrich the lives of your family and your friends and
your communities and your charities as a result.
But I think what I should say now is "God help you Joe."  Look, 16 plus
years ago I was where you are now. And I must tell you  if Obama wins, I
am pulling the plug in a few months. I am out. I have had it.  I am
preparing to destroy almost 100 jobs and lower my tax bracket and I can't
wait.

Consider: 16 years ago I was statistically in poverty, but I had dreams
and a plan. At the time, the remnants of Reaganomics still set the
economic tone and a fired up Newt Gingrich was forcing conservatism on the
Clinton White House every time Bill and Hillary tried to move left.  There
were actually politicians who praised business owners and business in
general.  Against that backdrop, I've had a pretty good run. It's been
extremely challenging and the move up was not a straight line, but I am
better off than I was 16 years ago. And 8 years ago. And 4 years ago. And
so are a lot of folks who have been on this ride with me.

But Joe, I am not better off than I was just 2 years ago. That's when
decades of liberal energy policy came home to roost and four dollar gas
took several hundred thousands from my bottom line faster than I could
possibly react.  That same gas price slammed my customers -- and my
customer's customers -- forcing our company into a vice of rapidly rising
costs and rapidly dropping revenues. Oh, and for fun, slower payments from
our customers.

That started the ripple through the sub prime mortgage industry, and we
have all seen the unraveling of our financial system which was more or
less totally underpinned by real estate "values." Those assumed valuations
were the basis for any number of derivatives and credit swaps and so on.
Well, forget all that Wall Street talk. To you and me it means employees
are more desperate for money, customers are less willing to buy, slower to
pay and banks less willing to lend. It certainly means whatever homes and
401K's you have are worth less too which makes your bank even less anxious
to lend to your business. It is the main street carnage of "unfettered
government" onto small business. It is the destructive fruit of
environmental leftists, the Fannie-Freddie cronies in government and other
corrupt liberals in positions of power.

And sadly, this is also the result of George Bush giving into these folks
all too often in defense of his "new tone." (That worked out well, didn't
it?) This was helped ironically by John McCain "reaching across the aisle"
to vote against tax cuts and vote for energy restrictions and so on. All
of this was nicely summed up by Mitt Romney when he said that our problems
stem from "too many Republicans acting too much like Democrats." Now, if
the polls are anywhere near accurate, we are going to get a taste of "real
Democrats acting too much like Marxists" for at least a few years.

Mitt was right, but the pundits said McCain was more acceptable to the
moderates. Hmmm. Wonder if a financial turn-around specialist like Mitt
might sell to the moderates now? Just a wild thought from someone not
smart enough to be a beltway pundit.

Now Joe, as someone whose been there, let me tell you how this works,
though I think you have a good idea.  At the end of the year, as an LLC, I
do file taxes with the business profit on my personal returns like many of
others do as well.  And yes, that figure is much bigger than 250 thousand.
But that's not really MY MONEY to keep. It's how I underpin my business.
When customers disappear or take their time paying bills, I still have to
pay my employees, rent, suppliers, and countless other expenses. Every
penny that the tax man takes out of that profit is less money that I have
to carry forward to stay in business for the next year. And if Obama and
Reid and Pelosi take more of this by "raising taxes on the rich" then of
course my business will suffer. And so will all the employees.

This is exactly what almost none of those lawyers turned politicians
understand.

But of course, you will have to send tax money into the government, Joe,
because the man who is in charge of spending that money -- Charlie Rangel
-- damned sure wasn't paying his fair share as we know now. Get out that
checkbook.

Of course, all of this matters only if you can afford to fill your
plumbing vans with gas at gosh knows what price. It could be that the
recession will lower the gas price, but that's not terribly good news for
you either, since customers don't spend as much money in a recession. I
mean, I hate to burst your bubble, but small business owners are
surrounded by a sea of challenges outside their control and almost all of
them are caused by liberalism. Government has formed a business firing
squad and it's a doggone circle!

I wish you well, guy.  You might just have the genius and persistence to
pull this off. I really do hope so. As for me, I have had enough. I have
fought creeping liberalism and managed more wins than losses over 17
years. We have progressed to where  our business,  now a corporation,  is
big enough so that Obama and his ilk now have their own ideas about "what
larger businesses can afford" and what "corporations can afford."

Well I've got news for him. I cannot afford what they think I can afford,
so I am breaking her up and giving her away to some key employees.  I wish
them well too. They are like you, tough and smart. Perhaps if they stay
small enough and never can carry forward more than 250 thou to the next
year, they will be allowed to keep their businesses through a downturn.

As for me? I'm outta here.

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