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Edited on Fri Oct-17-08 12:30 PM by bigtree
As I understand the state of our economy, most Americans have shot through most of their savings and most of whatever equity they've had has evaporated as home prices have plummeted. Most Americans are just trying to hold on to what they have in the face of rising unemployment, rising energy costs, rising interest rates, and falling wages and benefits.
Those are the economic conditions which are keeping working 'Joes' from amassing the savings and equity they need to advance out of the 'middle-class.' Those are the economic conditions that Obama/Biden have addressed with concrete proposals, directed at the working-class that McCain/Palin's 'Joe Plumber' has finally admitted he's a part of.
Joe Plumber is correct to dream and work toward a more prosperous future. But, he's wrong to assume that the government's role in this economic slowdown is to elevate those who are well-off above those, like him, who are struggling just to gain a foothold where they are. Elevating those who are already well-off at the expense of over 90% of the rest of us is the essence of the McCain/Palin economic plan.
Joe Plumber would do very well under the Obama/Biden economic plan. As an assistant plumber, making less than $250k, he'd qualify for a tax CUT under the Obama/Biden proposal. Even making the $280k that he envisioned earning with his own company, Joe Plumber would only see a tax increase of less than $800.
Under McCain/Palin, Joe Plumber would find it as impossible to advance up the economic ladder and hold those gains as the rest of Americans have found it impossible to succeed under present and future Bush/McCain economics.
Under the Obama/Biden administration, Joe Plumber will not only find his economic footing, but he will see his fortune rise with the rest of the majority of us, as the tiny fraction of Americans who have benefited from the last eight years of top-down, trickle-down tax giveaways finally pitch in.
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