It’s funny. There’s a 13 year-old boy I live with who stayed home sick one day this week. Most of the television stations are locked, so cable news was one of his few viewing options. He can’t avoid a lot of political discussion in our household and he’s been following the campaign is a casual sort of way, even watching a few debates. But he’s no political junkie. When I came home from doing some errands, the sick boy looked up at me from under his blanket on the couch and said, “Curse you! This [motioning to political coverage on the teevee] is actually interesting.” Yes, he’s caught the bug, and he’s watching cable news again today.
I like getting feedback on the coverage from someone that is coming at this campaign fresh, without the scars of decades of political disappointment. He saw a Republican mocking Barack Obama for telling Joe the Would-Be Plumber that he wants to share the wealth a little bit. And he asked me, “Isn’t sharing the wealth a good thing?”
And, of course, sharing the wealth is an excellent thing. Every decent boy knows that. But there seems to be a breed of human being that doesn’t agree and thinks speaking about sharing is some kind of flub.
Take this ass-clown who writes for US News & World Report:
No. Really. You’re kidding me. Barack Obama actually told that Joe the Plumber guy that he wants to “spread the wealth around.” What, did Obama just get done reading the Wikipedia entry on Huey “Share the Wealth” Long or something? Was he somehow channeling that left-wing populist from the Depression? Talk about playing into the most extreme stereotype of your party, that it is infested with socialists.
Republicans respond this way so frequently and so vociferously that even some progressives flinch when they hear someone say something as common-sensical as “let’s share the wealth.” But young progressives that have not been tainted by previous political campaigns are immune to this defense mechanism. Of course we should share the wealth. That’s just obvious.
And wouldn’t sharing the wealth be an integral part of a so-called Christian nation’s charity? Apparently only as needed.
Yes, he’s caught the bug, ..
I know who you’re talking of, glad to hear it.
Young asklet has also had apolitical awakening lately and loves Olbermann and Maddow.
good to hear. Of course, blogs are a much better source of political news than cable news. But they’ll learn that soon enough.
the problem with Joe the Plumber is that he has no wealth. He stated he his business doesn’t earn 250K and he is going to keep his truck for 8 years.
So Joe The Plumber, likes McCain and is the perfect example of voting “against” your own best interest. While Joe the Plumber isn’t for a tax cut, for himself, but is more than happy to see people like Johnny’s 130 million dollar wife get a tax cut at his “joe the plumber’s own expense.
Perfect example of how the Republican’s manipulate the middle-class and lower middle class.
Sharing the wealth is not only a moral question, but can also be a long term economic one. My story is like millions of others, I am a product of programs that Democrats have long fought for and Republicans have opposed. I started out poor, got Pell grants and student loans to go to college, and now make a good living, paying back many times over the investment my fellow citizens made in me. Sharing the wealth is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.
I am so ticked… came home today to find a robocall on the answering machine. This was the message:
There are only registered Democrats in this dwelling – so the whole area code must be getting this.
So much for the debate clarifying and clearing up Obama’s connection to Ayers! Please note the subtle wording about Obama and Ayers.
Oh, and to make this more on topic, there is the extreme leftist agenda – “sharing the wealth” perhaps? Maybe another call tomorrow will elaborate further.
Letting a kid watch cable news all day? Isn’t that some form of child abuse?
Sharing the wealth sounds a lot like redistribution of wealth and that Maxist/socialist notion has been on high on conservative-nut vocabulary list all year.
They would say of course the lazy assed teenager thinks sharing the wealth is a good thing. He only has to get off the sofa to walk to the mailbox to get the welfare check to pay his cable bill.
Two things are completely missed here.
One Joe the Plumber is not rich. And Rush et al have been going on for weeks that small business would get clobbered with a $250K threshold — Completely ignoring that they don’t get taxed on revenue but of profit after expenses. If Joe want so buy trucks, hire employees, invest in his business, that all comes off his tax bill. And if Joe doesn’t know that then maybe he shouldn’t be running a business.
Second, sharing the wealth means equitably sharing the wealth of the nation. Of course the operative word is “equitable”. Reasonable minds will disagree, but most economists would say that the answer lies in two areas; 1) where capital will get the greatest long term return and 2) where political and economic clout doesn’t favor one group over another.
There are plenty of example in history where wealth became to concentrated and could not return enough value to support the whole which in turn cause political and social upheaval, inevitably leading to collapse. Economists have identified certain ratios beyond which conditions are unsustainable.
Many of them have been warning for about a decade that we were approaching the early warning points. Zimbabwe we are not, but capital is tied too much with too few leaving the rest with too little to create means to create value. Meanwhile, the capital is too concentrated, as we are seeing, in too few means to create value, mainly securities speculation which doesn’t really create value anyway unless it is applied to something, and at some point it will fall down.
The money needs instead to go to guys like Joe the Plumber and millions of other entrepreneurs to create real value.
Joe the Plumber, my ass…
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/joe-in-the-spotlight/?hp
sounds like a republican plant to me