I think old Joe the Plummer should figure his taxes for his supposed new long time coming company. If he really did buy the company, he would be paying 35% under the Bush tax policies. If Obama gets in, he would pay 39%, but he would get a tax break for each employee’s health insurance so he would be paying less than he would have under the Bush tax policies. Did anyone else feel old Joe the Plummer was a plant at the rally when he approached Obama? And a flim crew just happened to be there. He is an admitted McCain supporter. He was interviewed last night and on Good Morning America. He slipped up and admitted he wasn’t in the process of buying anything. He has talked about it but it’s a long time coming. He was asked if his plummer jobs had increased…he he-hawed and said he had a couple today and he hoped to get some more. I sure wouldn’t buy a company if I wasn’t overloaded with jobs. Just wondering if anyone else got the feeling he was a plant so McCain would have something to hang his hat on during the debate. Food for thought.

A recent New Yorker article interviewed working poor white rural voters, asking them why they were for McCain. They answered “lower taxes.” Basically, they believed they were living paycheck to paycheck so even an extra $5 a week would break them (true), and that raising taxes on the wealthy would not solve the deficit (probably true). For these reasons, people like Joe the Plumber genuinely believe that if it weren’t for “high taxes” they would be rich. Or that there is no point in trying to better themselves/situations because the tax burden would be too high and they would end up behind. There is also a belief that a huge portion of the government spending goes to “welfare for people who are too lazy to get a job.” So they work 2 jobs with no healthcare and hope that when the taxes get lowered they will be included. Or that those nice rich people whose taxes got lowered will open up a local factory that will pay them a good wage and benefits.