Got this in an email.. Good Perspective on the potential consequences of Socialism in America..
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 2008.' Surprised you haven't heard of it, senator."
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."
"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
–Sir Winston Churchill
3 comments:
I think it is intellectually dishonest to keep using examples like this post to illustrate one's anti-socialist point of view.
Can we get over Joe the plumber?
Can we start to use our intellect to charge forward and to create a better future for our children. We needed a lot more than Joe the plumber to get us past Obama when we had the political hack of John McCain as our #1 republican.
Lets make an effort to stop posting "forwarded emails" and to begin posting our original thought. I know this site has a lot to offer and I think we can do better than what has been up for the past few months. ALthough, I was compelled by the last "Thanksgiving" article, I think we need to begin to showcase ConservativeChatroom as a forward thinking, conservative chatroom and not just a place where we can publically discuss our most favoritie emails.
-BIS
Rather than deciding the future of a site that you do not administer, why can't you stick with your own idea come up with a "compelling thought" of your own?
That's what I thought..
Socialism is a SERIOUS issue to conservatives. This violates almost every principle that we stand so proudly for. And in case you don't know, this is a conservative site. And when we have analogies that clearly depict socialism in a different manner, I believe it is perfectly relevant to share it.
This post exemplifies socialism very accurately and applies it to an example that has been very well publicized. That's what makes this so compelling and worthy of noting.
We are facing challenging times here in America both morally and economically. And historically, socialism has proven to be the WORST possible solution to increasing and sustaining prosperity and growth (at least economically for this discussion) in the long run.
Subsidizing or bailing out companies with taxpayer money and replacing with Govt ownership (control) is crazy. I am no economist, but common sense tells me that this is a bad idea. Especially, when you can literally trace the basis of this economic mess (starting with Fannie Freddie) on the policies of these same corrupt politicians.. Their interests do not necessarily represent ours! Thats one of the dangers of big government!
And that applied to either side. Conservative or Liberal. That is why free markets with competition is the only sound way to keep the economy in check in the long run. Yes the auto industry will take a step back. But it will never go under. This down cycle of theirs will force them to re-evaluate their business and make the necessary adjustments to be competitive again. Just like millions of businesses do everyday.
The alternative is just simply mediocrity. Its just not an American principle. Take a look at Europe for example. I have lived there. Yes some people are happy. Yes some may live good lives. But NO they are not leaders. NO they are no economic superpowers. NO they are not military powers. And NO they cannot survive without the United States! So why do we want to change our country to be mediocre like them? So we can have to depend on a ruthless currupt regime like China? Or Russia? Or Iran or Venezuela? Then the world is really fucked. Anybody remember that corrupt regime that gained too much power in world war II? I think his name was Hitler.
To put in perspective, the state of California alone has a larger economy that almost (if not all) every single country on the European continent.
It is in American blood to be ambitious. It is American to strive for excellence. And it is American way to strive to be our best and sustain leadership in this crazy world. So in the event of a little downturn, we need to look inside and be certain we don't move away from the very principles that have made us the world's most successful and powerful leader ever in history.
Sounds like BIS struck a nerve
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