Gavin Allan
Well-Known Member
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 and 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 Fair
Plumbing Act of 2009.'
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 the 'Joe's Fair
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 for
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, apparently."
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 and 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 Fair
Plumbing Act of 2009.'
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 the 'Joe's Fair
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 for
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, apparently."
