October 17, 2008

Hey Plumber Joe: Been There, Done That

   By [1]C. Edmund Wright

   God love you Joe. Bless your heart Joe.  You, and people like you, are
   what makes the country work. You make the country great. You get it --
   you act on it -- and you enrich the lives of your family and your
   friends and your communities and your charities as a result.

   But I think what I should say now is "God help you Joe."  Look, 16
   plus years ago I was where you are now. And I must tell you  if Obama
   wins, I am pulling the plug in a few months. I am out. I have had it.
   I am preparing to destroy almost 100 jobs and lower my tax bracket and
   I can't wait.


   Consider: 16 years ago I was statistically in poverty, but I had
   dreams and a plan. At the time, the remnants of Reaganomics still set
   the economic tone and a fired up Newt Gingrich was forcing
   conservatism on the Clinton White House every time Bill and Hillary
   tried to move left.  There were actually politicians who praised
   business owners and business in general.  Against that backdrop, I've
   had a pretty good run. It's been extremely challenging and the move up
   was not a straight line, but I am better off than I was 16 years ago.
   And 8 years ago. And 4 years ago. And so are a lot of folks who have
   been on this ride with me.


   But Joe, I am not better off than I was just 2 years ago. That's when
   decades of liberal energy policy came home to roost and four dollar
   gas took several hundred thousands from my bottom line faster than I
   could possibly react.  That same gas price slammed my customers -- and
   my customer's customers -- forcing our company into a vice of rapidly
   rising costs and rapidly dropping revenues. Oh, and for fun, slower
   payments from our customers.


   That started the ripple through the sub prime mortgage industry, and
   we have all seen the unraveling of our financial system which was more
   or less totally underpinned by real estate "values." Those assumed
   valuations were the basis for any number of derivatives and credit
   swaps and so on. Well, forget all that Wall Street talk. To you and me
   it means employees are more desperate for money, customers are less
   willing to buy, slower to pay and banks less willing to lend. It
   certainly means whatever homes and 401K's you have are worth less too
   which makes your bank even less anxious to lend to your business. It
   is the main street carnage of "unfettered government" onto small
   business. It is the destructive fruit of environmental leftists, the
   Fannie-Freddie cronies in government and other corrupt liberals in
   positions of power.


   And sadly, this is also the result of George Bush giving into these
   folks all too often in defense of his "new tone." (That worked out
   well, didn't it?) This was helped ironically by John McCain "reaching
   across the aisle" to vote against tax cuts and vote for energy
   restrictions and so on. All of this was nicely summed up by Mitt
   Romney when he said that our problems stem from "too many Republicans
   acting too much like Democrats." Now, if the polls are anywhere near
   accurate, we are going to get a taste of "real Democrats acting too
   much like Marxists" for at least a few years.


   Mitt was right, but the pundits said McCain was more acceptable to the
   moderates. Hmmm. Wonder if a financial turn-around specialist like
   Mitt might sell to the moderates now? Just a wild thought from someone
   not smart enough to be a beltway pundit.


   Now Joe, as someone whose been there, let me tell you how this works,
   though I think you have a good idea.  At the end of the year, as an
   LLC, I do file taxes with the business profit on my personal returns
   like many of others do as well.  And yes, that figure is much bigger
   than 250 thousand. But that's not really MY MONEY to keep. It's how I
   underpin my business. When customers disappear or take their time
   paying bills, I still have to pay my employees, rent, suppliers, and
   countless other expenses. Every penny that the tax man takes out of
   that profit is less money that I have to carry forward to stay in
   business for the next year. And if Obama and Reid and Pelosi take more
   of this by "raising taxes on the rich" then of course my business will
   suffer. And so will all the employees.


   This is exactly what almost none of those lawyers turned politicians
   understand.


   But of course, you will have to send tax money into the government,
   Joe, because the man who is in charge of spending that money --
   Charlie Rangel -- damned sure wasn't paying his fair share as we know
   now. Get out that checkbook.


   Of course, all of this matters only if you can afford to fill your
   plumbing vans with gas at gosh knows what price. It could be that the
   recession will lower the gas price, but that's not terribly good news
   for you either, since customers don't spend as much money in a
   recession. I mean, I hate to burst your bubble, but small business
   owners are surrounded by a sea of challenges outside their control and
   almost all of them are caused by liberalism. Government has formed a
   business firing squad and it's a doggone circle!


   I wish you well, guy.  You might just have the genius and persistence
   to pull this off. I really do hope so. As for me, I have had enough. I
   have fought creeping liberalism and managed more wins than losses over
   17 years. We have progressed to where  our business,  now a
   corporation,  is big enough so that Obama and his ilk now have their
   own ideas about "what larger businesses can afford" and what
   "corporations can afford."


   Well I've got news for him. I cannot afford what they think I can
   afford, so I am breaking her up and giving her away to some key
   employees.  I wish them well too. They are like you, tough and smart.
   Perhaps if they stay small enough and never can carry forward more
   than 250 thou to the next year, they will be allowed to keep their
   businesses through a downturn.


   As for me? I'm outta here.

References

   1. http://www.americanthinker.com/c_edmund_wright/