Re:Why are Americans so angry?
by humanrebar on Tuesday February 09, 2016 @01:13PM
(#11067357)
Read the link. He was about to buy a business that, theoretically, would put the business in the greater than $250k range. Depending on the tax code, it wouldn't matter if his take-home was much lower.
The whole exercise of figuring out which class this guy is in is part of the point I was trying to make, really. Do I have to know his income to figure out how I feel about the guy?
"Regarding his statement to Barack Obama about intending to buy the plumbing firm that employed him, Wurzelbacher later said that the idea of buying the company was discussed during his job interview six years prior.[9] According to MSNBC and Fox News, court records show that Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.[19] Dun & Bradstreet's report estimated that A. W. Newell Corporation, the full corporate name, had $510,000 in annual sales and eight employees."
He discussed the idea of buying the company once. Given the state of his finances, the likely situation is that either he was betting on winning the Powerball, or he was just dreaming about buying the company.
He is the poster child for this phenomena!
Re:Why are Americans so angry?
by humanrebar on Tuesday February 09, 2016 @02:07PM
(#11067812)
> Do I have to know his income to figure out how I feel about the guy?
You're missing my point, which is pointing out the need to find an 'other'.
I'm not sure it's important if Joe the Plumber has identity issues. It is absolutely important if it's normal to treat others like they're crazy, evil, alien, stupid, or nefarious.
Would see which version of him? The barely-middle-class $40,000/year reality of himself, or the make-believe millionaire dream of himself? (Which, in my excuse, is the narrative that the media spun for the next two weeks.)
I have a hard time placing this, but that maybe because I fundamentally disagree with respect to progressive taxation being a declaration of hostilities against the wealthy.