Tony Rubolotta

A Tale of Three Plumbers
October 16, 2008

The hero of my tale is not surprisingly named Joe. For the sake of illustration, I’m going to use nice round numbers. Joe aspires to have his own business (sound familiar?). To achieve that goal, Joe works 10 or more hours a day to earn the $250 he needs to both provide for his current needs and save to have his own business.

Mike is content to work eight hours a day and earn $200. This provides for his current needs without sacrificing time he would rather not spend working. Though Mike would like to see his standard of living rise, he is not willing to sacrifice his free time to do that. Mike is an average guy with no ambition other than occasional daydreams of hitting the lottery. Not surprisingly, Mike harbors a tinge of envy because Joe works harder, is more ambitious and may actually achieve his dream.

Teddy’s needs are provided for by government "programs”, which includes his housing, health care and food. Teddy likes his beer and smokes, which government does not provide so he will work about an hour a day, under the table of course, to make the money to indulge his wants. Teddy could do like so many others and scam the food stamp program, but for arguments sake let’s assume he does not. Teddy is not the villain of this tale, but a mere pawn and co-conspirator.

According to Barack Obama’s philosophy, Joe should pay more taxes, Mike should pay less taxes and Teddy should pay negative taxes; that is Teddy should receive some of Joe’s money as a tax rebate on taxes he never paid. According to Obama, he doesn’t want to punish Joe but only wants to give the people "behind” him a "chance for success too.” I thought people worked for success and accepted the chance they might fail, but I’m not as smart or caring as Obama, which is why he believes Mike and Teddy deserve a chance for success, even if it is at Joe’s expense.

In Obama’s kingdom, Joe’s "ability” to work 10 or more hours a day becomes an expectation used to satisfy Teddy’s "need” for a "chance at success”. For Mike, the tax reduction isn’t exactly hitting the lottery but will make him a tad more "equal” to Joe and show that he "cares” about Teddy. Mike and Teddy agree for totally selfish reasons that the core principle of "from each according to their ability (Joe) and to each according to their need (Mike and Teddy)” is fair. Mike and Teddy are voting for change.

If Obama has his way, Joe has a choice. He can give up his dream and work eight hours a day for a net loss of two productive hours to the economy. That shrinkage of the economy won’t give Teddy a chance for success, so Joe and Mike must both pay more in taxes. Mike's tax cut was totally dependent on Joe's extra work. If that ends, so does the tax cut. Alternatively, Joe could work 12 hours a day to achieve his dream and simply accept the fact that Mike and Teddy are leeches he must feed, and the harder he works, the more they get. What would you do if you were Joe?

Plymouth Colony was the first experiment with socialism on the American continent. I could re-title this article "A Tale of Three Pilgrims” to illustrate how socialism failed the colonists despite their good intentions. The same forces at work in my imaginary story played out and nearly starved the colony out of existence. Capitalism saved Plymouth Colony. Socialism almost killed it.

Unfortunately, the egos of the leftist elite must be stroked because they are so much smarter than everyone else that has tried socialism and failed. Obama insists on his "chance for success” and if he fails, and he will, he won’t suffer the consequences. That’s for Joe, Mike and Teddy.