Archive for October 16th, 2008
October 16th, 2008
OK, so Joe the plumber isn’t joe and isn’t a plumber. The issue is the Democrats’ hostility to small business — the very businesses that create 80 percent of the new jobs. Many small businesses are “S corps,” where business’s income is listed on a personal income tax filing, not a separate corporate tax filing.
Thus, taxable income of, say, $250,000 on a man who has an S corp, reflects business income as well as the man’s personal income. To raise taxes on earnings over $250,000 is a disincentive for that business to grow, the exact opposite of how we create jobs.
We need to greatly reduce taxes on small business to provide incentives for them to create millions of new jobs. Small business can do the job if it is not punished for success!!!!
In fact, taxes should be reduced on all business, from the largest to the smallest. Europe knows this drill. As McCain pointed out in the debate, Ireland’s corporate tax rate is 11 percent — ours is 35 percent. It’s no secret why Ireland is becoming a mecca for high tech industries and entrepreneurial businesses — low corporate taxes combined with an excellently-educated workforce. We could learn from the Irish.
October 16th, 2008
Seems “Joe the Plumber,” who was the focus of the third presidential debate Wednesday, is not a real plumber. He works in a two-main plumbing business in Toledo, Ohio, and hopes to buy it someday. He told Good Morning America that he earns nowhere near $250,000, the point at which Obama’s tax plan would raise his taxes. The local plumber’s union (which endorsed Obama) notes that he’s not a licensed union plumber and did not serve an apprenticeship in the plumber’s union. He also owes Ohio about a grand in back taxes. Read about it here.
His full name is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.
October 16th, 2008
I’m looking at the latest NYSE stock market ticker and it’s heading down. I’m glad that my financial adviser, Dr. Herb Allen, is also a psychologist.
October 16th, 2008
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why John McCain played to his party’s conservative base in the third debate, as if he were running in a Republican primary election.
It’s late in the game, and this is the time when presidential  candidates talk to the middle of the road voters who make up the majority. Barack Obama did that, but McCain repeated the GOP mantra: cut all taxes and, oppose abortion in all cases. That’s not playing to the middle.
Overall, I thought McCain did a better job than in the first two debates, attacking Obama on several fronts, including “If you’d wanted to run against President Bush, you should have done it four years ago,” in response to Obama’s penchant for painting McCain as Bush III.
McCain looked grumpy and impatient, as he has in the other debates, and annoyed that he has to face Obama. No doubt about it, Obama will raise taxes. But McCain will, too, by taxing health care benefits, a point made well by Obama.
Probably this debate was a double for Mccain. But he needed a home run.
