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

Herb Parsons hparsons at parsonsys.com
Sat Oct 18 17:57:14 EDT 2008


Andrew,

Is it your assertion that Joe is working on homes without a licensed 
plumber being with him? Is there something you know that no one else is 
reporting?

Andrew Collins wrote:
> Brad
>
> What was your point exactly, Brad? You made mine quite nicely, thank you.
> You are having trouble focusing.
> I am very well versed in plumbing, and have seen just how badly unlicensed
> plumbers can screw things up. Some of them even think shit can flow uphill,
> and I have the photos to prove it.
>
> I tell all my intern engineers the first rule of construction is "shit flows
> downhill", and have been telling them for 30 years.
>
> My firm can plumb anything you like, we are licensed in 4 states. We abide
> by the law of the land, as do you.
>
> Get licensed Joe!
>
> Andrew
>
> On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 4:56 PM, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> Andrew,
>>
>> God bless your immature heart.  How the hell do you get experience?
>> You started out shitting in your pants.  Someone had to help you find
>> your way to the John.  Attacking Joe the Plumber because he doesn't
>> have a license is silly.  Allow me to let you in on a little secret
>> here.  I work in the most regulated profession in the world.  I get
>> tested at at minimum every six months (I'm an examiner).  I get a
>> physical every six months.  Every day at work I'm subject to drug
>> testing.  Every day I'm subject to a random government oversight test.
>>  I challenge you to find a profession that has a bigger microscope
>> focused on it.
>>
>> You are worried about a plumber?  Here's a clue kid!  Shit flows
>> downhill.  Plumbing is serious business.  It takes 7 years of
>> experience to get a plumbers license.  You have to be smart to get
>> one.  But don't you cast aspersions on someone who is working on a
>> plumbing license or someone who is aspiring one.
>>
>> Most of the PhD's I know couldn't pour piss out of a boot with the
>> instructions printed on the heel.  Never underestimate the common
>> wisdom of someone who knows the direction of shit given gravity or
>> "shit from shinola".
>>
>> Brad
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 3:12 PM, Andrew Collins
>> <sailingvesselcarmen at gmail.com> wrote:
>>     
>>> Dear pdgrand nospam:
>>>
>>> awful post
>>>
>>> " ... when decades of liberal energy policy came home to roost "?
>>>
>>> This post isn't worthy of even this lowly slug-fest we call a sailing
>>>       
>> forum.
>>     
>>> And whaddabout the subject line? Ed where are you?
>>>
>>> Can we have a new rule: you have to write it yourself not cut and paste
>>>       
>> any
>>     
>>> old uncorroborated opinion that oozes across the web?
>>> And if Joe is an unlicensed plumber, he is just that. He should be
>>>       
>> licensed,
>>     
>>> take the tests, go to trade school. Do unlicensed pilots fly? Do
>>> unregistered engineers practice, do unlicensed beauticians give facials?
>>>       
>> No,
>>     
>>> they don't
>>>
>>> This unlicensed tradesman is manipulating gas installations, connections
>>>       
>> to
>>     
>>> the public water supply, connectiions to public sewer systems, etc. This
>>> work brings with it responsibilities that every municipality requires be
>>> satisfied by obtaining a plumbing license before being allowed to this
>>>       
>> kind
>>     
>>> of work.
>>>
>>> Andrew
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 2:37 PM, <pdgrand at nospam.wmis.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> 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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