[StBernard] Joe the Plumber

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Thu Jan 16 08:16:51 EST 2014


It is so simple to understand why some things are just bad ideas!



Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Joe the
Plumber to come and fix it. Joe drives to Obama's house, which is located in
a very nice neighborhood, where it's clear that all the residents make more
than $250,000 per year.



Joe arrives and takes his tools into the house. Joe is led to the
room that contains the leaky pipe under a sink. Joe assesses the problem and
tells Obama, who is standing near the door, that it's an easy repair that
will take less than 10 minutes.



Obama asks Joe how much it will cost. Joe immediately says,
"$9,500." "$9,500?" Obama asks, stunned, "But you said it's an easy repair!"
"Yes, but what I do is charge a lot more to my clients who make more than
$250,000 per year so I can fix the plumbing of everybody who makes less than
that for free," explains Joe. "It's always been my philosophy. As a matter
of fact, I lobbied government to pass this philosophy as law, and it did
pass earlier this year, so now all plumbers have to do business this way.
It's known as 'Joe's Affordable Plumbing Act of 2013.' Surprised you haven't
heard of it." In spite of that, Obama tells Joe there's no way he's paying
that much for a small plumbing repair, so Joe leaves. Obama spends the next
hour flipping through the phone book looking for another plumber, but he
finds that all other plumbing businesses listed have gone out of business.
Not wanting to pay Joe's price, Obama does nothing. The leak under Obama's
sink goes unrepaired for the next several days. A week later the leak is so
bad that Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink. The bucket fills up
quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and there's a risk that the room
will flood, so Obama calls Joe and pleads with him to return.



Joe goes back to Obama's house, looks at the leaky pipe, and says,
Let's see - this will cost you about $21,000." "A few days ago you told me
it would cost $9,500!" Obama quickly fires back. Joe explains the reason for
the dramatic increase. "Well, because of 'Joe's Affordable Plumbing Act,' a
lot of rich people are learning how to fix their own plumbing, so there are
fewer of you paying for all the free plumbing I'm doing for the people who
make less than $250,000. As a result, the rate I have to charge my wealthy
paying customers rises every day. "Not only that, but for some reason the
demand for plumbing work from the group of people who get it free has
skyrocketed, and there's a long waiting list of those who need repairs. This
has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, and they're not being
replaced - nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they
won't make any money. I'm hurting now too - all thanks to greedy rich people
like you who won't pay their fair share." Obama tries to straighten out the
plumber: "Of course you're hurting, Joe! Don't you get it? If all the rich
people learn how to fix their own plumbing and you refuse to charge the
poorer people for your services, you'll be broke, and then what will you
do?" Joe immediately replies, "Run for president."



THIS SHOULD BE PASSED ON TO EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN, ESPECIALLY THE
51% WHO REALLY VOTED THIS BILL INTO LAW !!!






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