Being as Joe the Plumber was the only clear winner in the debate, I suspect we will be seeing a lot of him in coming days, and small business is a subject very near and dear to my heart I'm doing a rare back to back blog post here.

For those who have been on Mars the last few days 'Joe the Plumber' is a man who approached Senator Obama at one of his rally's and explained that his circumstances were that he is a man who worked hard 10-12 hour days for years in the same business and was considering purchasing the business himself. As he expects the business to make more than $250,000/yr. his question to the Senator was simple: 'Your tax plan is going to raise my taxes, isn't it?'. 

Barry was caught off guard and admitted that yes, his plan would indeed increase Joe's BUSINESS tax burden. Keep in mind here, this isn't Joe's personal salary by any stretch of the imagination. It's what his business makes. That is money that would be used to expand the business, hire more employees, spend on advertising, etc. It's not money Joe would otherwise use to take a trip to Morocco (though he would be perfectly justified to do so if he desired) or hold company parties with strippers and open bars. Barry's reasoning as to why this is 'fair'? "I want to spread the wealth around".

Folks, let me tell you $250k is NOTHING in small business. I know a quarter million dollars sounds like a lot of money, but it's not when you are running a business. Particularly if you attempt to run the business debt free or relatively debt free. That $250k 'profit' isn't windfall money. It's next weeks and next months payroll if business slows down. It allows you to buy that extra van or tools or new sign for the building. Allows you to increase inventory. As you grow the business, you hire more employees. It's small business economics 101 and Mr. Obama receives an F-. 

According to Senater O, any person or entity that 'makes' $250k in a year is rich and should therefore give up a large portion of their 'wealth' because spreading it around is good. 

For the love of God...how can ANYONE think this is a good idea? I know Joe the plumber. No not the guy himself, but dozens exactly like him. Small businessmen and women who take huge risks and pour ridiculous amounts of hours after taking a second mortgage on the house into creating something to be proud of on a small scale and hopefully be able to feed their family in the process. Obama seems to think these people are RICH and should be HAPPY to give up relatively small profits to fund his Robin Hood policies.

Yes Robin Hood is the only way to effectively describe what Obama wants to do. Rob from the 'rich' to give to the poor. More entitlement programs that do far more to hold the poor down than they ever do to give a hand up. 

In the mean time, Joe won't be able to add those 3 employees he was planning on adding. Won't be able to give that 3% raise he intended to give his current employees. Hell, he might even have to lay off an employee or two just to remain solvent. 

But hey...at least he's 'rich' right?

UPDATE: The MSM assault on this poor guy has been amazing. The stories are about his 'real' first name and whether or not he holds a plumbers license? You kidding me? The guy asked a question about taxes and is being vetted and attacked as if he were Obamas opponent in the race.

Question...where was the media lining up on Bill Ayers front lawn when THAT story broke? Reverend Wright? Rezko? (someone remind me to do a blog on the Rezko connection, I haven't done that yet). It's absolutely incredible how unabashedly in the tank for Obama the Media is.