Plumber Joe

The above video shows the encounter of Plumber Joe Wurzelbacher with Senator Obama on the campaign trail. Joe is not a happy camper. He wants to buy a business. The business makes too much money, over $250,000, and Joe knows his taxes are going up under Obama.

Now here is where it gets tricky:

Obama said, "My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off if you’re gonna be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody."

Nice attitude you got Senator. Is it supported by the University of Chicago Economics Department? I don't think so.

Now how do economies actually get better off? Not by spreading the wealth. They get better off by more production. Passing out money may be OK as an emergency measure but making it a permanent feature has the bad effect of reducing incentive. Which reduces output.

So the Senator wants to reduce economic output with higher taxes and reduce government income with higher taxes in the name of fairness. What is fair about an under producing economy?

Commenter Andrew at Classical Values has suggested this unedited YouTube version for those of who would want to see more. I also have another post up Joe The Plumber.

Cross Posted at Classical Values