Friday, October 24, 2008

Who Played Joe the Plumber and Ed the Electrician for Suckers in the Free-Market Economy?

The Key Element Missing from Discussions of Free-Market Theory has been the relationship between the heads of free-market enterprises and the “bodies” of those enterprises. While the beneficiaries of “free-market,” “trickle-down” theory hold their talks, the American worker has been too busy at work to join in.


“Labor Is a Commodity.”

That’s the Conservative View, as Noted Columnist George F. Will talked about in his article recently cited in these pages.*

This Secret Has Been Hidden Inside Republican Politics since President Richard Nixon brought it into play back in 1972, when he labeled the labor portion of America, “the Silent Majority.” These free-market Republicans can't really afford to think about the individual workers like Joe the Plumber and Ed the Electrician and Joe Sixpack. After all, somebody has to pay for the real cost of government....


Three Messages Have Dominated the Republican Agenda for at least the past forty years:

The Implicit Conservative Message:
“Sure, you ain’t rich yet, but when you get there, do you want the Democrats and the Socialists to take all your money and spread it around to all the people that don’t even pay taxes, let alone work for a living?”
The Stated Message:
“Republicans seek to lower taxes. Republicans don’t believe in ‘Spread the Wealth.’ Always vote against those ‘Tax-and-Spend’ Democrats.”
But the Real Message Is This:
“We ‘Defer-and-Spend’ Republicans believe we can just keep pushing off the costs of government. Why should we pay for anything? We can push these costs on down the road to the next generation, and to the next generations to come. Onto Joe the Plumber, Jr., and Ed the Electrician's kids.”

No Matter What They Say, the “Defer-and-Spend” Republicans do not actually oppose taxes. They just don't want to have to pay any taxes themselves. Whether this is dishonesty or ignorance, Republicans just consider it a good idea to defer taxes and let someone else to pay.

“Pro-Americans” Would Be Furious about this Practice. If they knew about it....

But “Joe the Plumber” Is Too Busy Working. He's got bills to pay. Who’s got time to question the ability or the integrity of free-market theory and its purveyors?

And “Joe Sixpack” Probably Hasn't Heard the News Yet,
that Alan Greenspan has been in “a state of shocked disbelief,” admitting that he was mistaken. About these “free-market” theories...

Meanwhile, John McCain and Sarah Palin and the Conservative Pundits continue to reinforce the Pro-American’s trust in the confident Republican rhetoric.

The Rhetoric That Even Alan Greenspan Now Says Is Wrong.....

Yep, It’s “Joe the Plumber” and His “Fellow Americans” Paying the Price.
To the tune of the $700,000,000,000 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. It “taxes” each and every “Pro-American” citizen more than $2,000 in extra taxes apiece.

“Joe the Plumber” and “Ed the Electrician” Better Get Back to Work Soon.
They’ve got some big deferred-tax bills to pay.

Meanwhile, the Noticeably Silent Fortune 500 CEOs glide gently to Earth on golden parachutes....

....Landing Once More on the Backs of George F. Will’s “commodity.” Joe Sixpack. Joe the Plumber. Ed the Electrician. The stalwart Republican voter for John McCain and Sarah Palin. Everyman, the American tax-payer.


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* Previous post: Channeling Barack Obama, “It Seemed Like Sort of a Good Idea at the Time....” (Channeling Barack Obama™, 10/09/2008). Original source material: George F. Will, “The Right Minimum Wage” (The Washington Post, 01/04/2007, p. A17)

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