Tea party Rep.: Only $400,000 left after ‘I feed my family’

[kpete]

Tea party Rep.: Only $400,000 left after ‘I feed my family’
Posted on 09.19.11
By David Edwards

Tea party Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) used himself as an example Monday while arguing against President Barack Obama’s plan to make sure millionaires pay about the same tax rate as the people that work for them.

“In my own case, I own LLCs,” Fleming told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing. “The income flows to my personal tax return and whatever is left over after taxes are paid, I feed my family on the one hand and on the other hand, I reinvest in my business.”

“With all due respect, The Wall Street Journal estimated that your businesses, which I believe are Subway sandwich shops and UPS stores — very successful — brought you last year, over $6 million,” Jansing noted.

“Yeah, that’s before you pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment and food,” Fleming agreed. “Since my net income — and again, that’s the individual rate that I told you about — the amount that I have to reinvest in my business and feed my family is more like $600,000 of that $6.3 million. And so by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations, buy more equipment.”

MORE:
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/tea-party-rep-only-400000-left-after-i-feed-my-family/

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZzVJkdmqRoA/TTrrtXzlHdI/AAAAAAAAAPI/PyUaKgmAnCk/s1600/Crying+Cartoon.jpg

[NewJeffCT]

1. well, gee if you only have $400,000 left

you might as well go hang yourself in shame, or fall on your sword or similar. How can anybody survive on so little?

(I hope I don't need the sarcasm smiley for that...)

[Warpy]

2. He must feed 'em at 4 star restaurants 3 times a day

I can't believe these crybabies! If anybody needs to be taxed back to reality, it's them!

I notice no one has ever had the guts to ask him how he thought his employees, who had to live on less than a tenth that much, were feeding their own families.

Asshole.

[Horse with no Name]

22. At about 12k a year (judging on folks I know] that work at these places make)

that is 33 employees FAMILIES living on what he says his ONE family can't.

What a disgusting pig.

[woo me with science]

3. I really want them to have to trade places with average Americans in order to serve.

Live in this place, on this budget, with this job and this resume and these obligations for a year.

Then make policy.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. 600K - 400k = 200k to feed the family.

How many family members is he feeding?


eta: I'm sure the idiot means "support his family in a privileged lifestyle" but I'd also put money on a bet that says he knows that by phrasing it his way it sounds much more modest.

[surrealAmerican]

32. I guess they're not living off those ...

... "five-dollar" sandwiches he sells.

[Gormy Cuss]

51. LOL! n/t

[DotGone]

41. Almas caviar and Wagyu steak aren't cheap

You can't expect he and his family to eat what the plebeians do. That just wouldn't be right.

[csziggy]

5. He spends $200,000 to feed his family?

How big is his family?!!!????

"...the amount that I have to reinvest in my business and feed my family is more like $600,000 of that $6.3 million. And so by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over to invest..."

[FarLeftFist]

6. What fucking world do these Nazi's live in?!

[Erose999]

29. Some sort of Neville Chamberlain-ish Weimar Republic that values bipartisanship apparently...

[aquart]

7. Poor fella.

Never occurs to him that his crap restaurants will fail if the economy fails BECAUSE HE IS UNDERTAXED.

[whathehell]

8. Yes, so sad, LOL.

I loved the wording too:

"feed my family"...like they're all

living in a tin shack somewhere.:eyes:

[kentuck]

9. The 46 million that make less than $22K per year...

would think that is very rich. It is all relative.

[HappyMe]

10. OMG! That poor, poor man!

Let's take up a collection for him.


:grr:

[Marr]

11. That's $400k/year that he's been investing. No telling how much he's worth.

[chill_wind]

12. I was expecting this to be something from The Onion

but unfortunately greed-heads like him are real.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. The line between reality and the Onion

is growing about thin as polar ice IMHO

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. Bookmarking

Thanks for the link!


:nopity:

[Desertrose]

15. Oh boo hoo. Someone call the whambulance.

Poor poor baby.








:sarcasm: (just in case)

[rfranklin]

16. He can also save 25% of that income tax free in a SEP...

which would be $125,000. I know that as a business owner.

[Raven]

17. With all due respect, Mr. Fleming, I would guess that your Subway

employees barely have $4 left over to feed their families.

[leftyohiolib]

18. which subways. i ned to knowso i dont accidently go there

[bengalherder]

28. Just avoid Subway period.

Plenty of good local mom and pop deli about if that's your thing.

[CTyankee]

50. Aint that the truth. During the power outage last month, I went for coffee at a little family

sandwich shop that had power. They had someone behind the (real) grill and I longed for a fried egg and bacon sandwich on toasted rye. I never tasted anything so good at that moment! Real grilled food (no microwaved egg sandwiches). It was a "re-discovery" of what we had before we had these chains and their evil microwaved food.

[gratuitous]

19. By God, Mr. Fleming, you are an inspiration!

The courage it must take for you to get out of bed in the morning would crush a smaller, weaker man. Scraping by on a mere $400,000 per annum! Of course, if you reduce your income to less than $1 million as you say you do, you're not really subject to paying an addition three cents on the dollar for income above $1 million. So, you're not really subject to that "higher" tax rate. And, since you're not paying social security withholding on your income above $107,000, you're paying out a far lower percentage of your income than any of your worker bees to support and maintain the system that enriches you so handsomely.

On second thought, you're less an inspiration than a whiny little pup.

[justabob]

20. wow, poor guy

That is something like 20 years pay for me (historically). Where I am at right now, it is more like 40 years of pay. I don't even have four dollars in my pocket right now. Asshole.

[truebrit71]

21. "Only 400k left" - Listen dickwad, anytime you want to swap paychecks you let me know...

..until then fuck you very much...

That sort of logic borders on "let them eat cake"....

:grr:

[Ganja Ninja]

23. Reminds me of the time I went out on a job and the lady of the house

was lamenting to us about how her husband's Rolex was broken and his Porsche was in the shop. Oh the humanity!

[Bluenorthwest]

24. I feel like I should mail him some hand me downs to help out

Or a bushel of excess garden produce. Also, he could ask his Republican freshman peer 'Poor' Sean Duffey for some advice, as poor, poor Sean is scrapping by on 'just' his 170,000 from his job in Congress. Poor Sean has complained about his tight circumstances many times in the past. It is a tea tradition to whine about having to get by on a household budget in the six figure range.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/dems-excoriate-rep-sean-duffy-struggle-congressional-salary-20110330-092116-477.html

[KharmaTrain]

25. I'll Bet He Doesn't Re-Invest With His Money...

Being the well connected rushpublican he borrows the money and then writes off the interest.

A couple of notes on this one.

First...$600k to feed one's family? That makes the Wisconsin Congresscritter who cried about not cutting it on $175k a year sound like a poverty case. But we've see over and over that rushpublicans can never live within their means.

Next there's the $400k...that's just one year. Let's say he's been banking $400k or more a year for the past decade. Now figure out the interest on that money that is taxed at only 15%.

Here's hoping the Democratic party makes this shitstain the poster boy for tax inequality...but they probably won't.

[moondust]

26. But he's in communication with the managers!

From ThinkProgress:

And how hard does the congressman work to make the equivalent of eight median household incomes? Fleming told the Wall Street Journal that “he spends very little time on day-to-day management, though he weighs in on broad strategy decisions.” “I monitor the reports. I’m certainly in communication with the managers,” he told the paper.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/19/322405/gop-rep-whines-400k/

Imagine having to do all that for only $400K a year! It must be livin' Hell! :eyes:

[MountainLaurel]

27. Where does Louisiana get these people? n/t

[Erose999]

30. The same place Mississippi gets its fertile delta soil... all the shit from everywhere else washes

down the river.

[ItNerd4life]

31. So now it's okay for DUers to blast small business owners?

It's obvious none of the above posters have ever run a small business. I guess they would prefer he be taxed higher than
to reinvest and create more jobs? Or don't you believe him because he is a Tea Party member?

I can't believe the negativity towards small business owners. No wonder this economy is going to hell!

[ornotna]

35. Yes

We're the reason the economy tanked. Who'da thunk it.

[durablend]

37. Well thanks for your "concern"

Guess us pee-ons don't "understand" and can go to hell then.

[moondust]

38. This isn't about "small business owners."

Your egocentrism is showing.

[kentuck]

43. He made over $6 million last year...

But after he paid his workers and fed his kids, he only had $400K left....

I don't know if "small" is the correct adjective? Perhaps "medium-sized"?

[moondust]

44. How much would you guess he paid his workers?

Maybe a little less than $400K? :rofl:

The issue seems to be the warped mindset of this individual, which seems to be fairly typical for a Republican.

[gratuitous]

52. He said he has 500 employees

Let's assume that all of that purported $5.4 million in employee wages, space leases, and equipment maintenance and upkeep went to the wages of those 500 employees. That works out to $10,800 in average annual wages per employee.

Which leaves us the question: Is Mr. Fleming a big, fat liar, or is he some kind of latter day slave owner?

[justabob]

42. wow

Yeah, 'small business' owner or no, if you are whining about having 400k AFTER your family is taken care of, you are an asshole. Some of us do not even have 40 dollars with which to buy food, or anything else. This guy can STFU.

[fishwax]

47. yeah, poor guy -- only 400,000 per year left after feeding his family

[Aviation Pro]

33. Let this fucking scumbag...

...change his party affiliation from 'R' to 'TP' and see how far it gets him.

One more time:

THERE ARE NO FUCKING TEA-BAGGERS SERVING AS ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES ONLY WALKING WADS OF FUCK CALLED REPUBLICANTS.

[indypaul]

34. Then it is high time for him to look up the meaning of

NOBLESSE OBLIGE.

[Blue_Tires]

36. to be fair, those are probably the exact same talking points he delivered

to the chamber of commerce or that $1000-plate GOP fundraiser...He just forgot to swap out his notes for the MSNBC interview

[Joe Fields]

39. Oh....poor babies....

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. and there lies the problem...

this guy thinks 400,000 is not quite a bit of money. This is his yearly income... this does not include his actual accumulated wealth.

Cry me a river!

[fishwax]

45. 6 million divided by 500 employees would pay each about 12,000 a year

And that is if his rent, food, etc. costs were zero.

Only 400,000, after feeding his family. Poor guy.

[SoapBox]

46. ...what a jackass.

Dirt bag.

I'm SO sick of these out of touch idiots.

[Jack Rabbit]

48. I don't know much about tax accounting, but . . .

Can't he put himself on a fixed salary of $100K (or $250K or whatever) and funnel the profits directly back into his businesses without it making its way into his bank account? Would that work out better for everybody involved?

I don't know, I'm just asking. It seems to me that there's more than one way he can arrange his affairs.

And, as things go, I don't feel too sorry for this guy. Now, what is he paying the guys who make sandwiches for him? Do they have more the $400K after taxes?

[booley]

49. Today my water got turned off

I had to beg my sister for money to pay it (she's not sure she has it) and tomorrow I will have to beg my dad for 400 to pay my power bill (seems we never talk except for me to ask for money)

I have 5 bucks to pay for all the food I will eat that day for the next week until my next pay check comes in (which when you're hypo-glycemic ain't exactly healthy)

And this because I had to spend all my money on car repairs, insurance, helping a friend on his car so he can get to to work and having two room mates who are under employed.

I own my own business but instead of using money that should be invested back into it, I spend it on surviving and paying back the debts I had to incur to survive.

So hopefully everyone understands the context when I say that people like the above make feel violent.

I will not act on those feelings. But I can still day dream about taking these spoiled elitists with their ideas of privilege as entitlement and their talk about how people like me are just lazy parasites and punching them in the mouth.

Now excuse me, I have to go to my second job where customers get to heap abuse on me because they know I cant' say or do anything about it.