Monday, October 27, 2008

I Am Joe.



I am Joe The Plumber.

No, I am not a plumber, and my name is not Joe, and I do not make $250,000 per year.

But I am Joe The Plumber, just the same.

In 2006, I quit my job as a company driver at a lumber distribution center where I made a little over $40,000 per year. I took my retirement savings, my personal savings, my grocery and rent money, and whatever I could borrow from family members, and put a down payment on a tractor trailer truck of my own.

Had things stayed the way they were, the payment would have been manageable, and I would have been very successful.

But they didn't.

When fuel prices doubled that year, the freight rates stayed the same, and I did several weeks of work for a man who just decided not to pay me for it. I worked harder and harder, for more and more hours each week, for less and less money, until January of 2008, when the finance company came and took the truck away from me.

I worked 16 hours in the truck the day they took it away.

I wound up right back in a company truck, only without the money that I had saved up, my credit rating shot to death, and still in debt.

I worked as hard as a man can work, and in the end, I would have been better off if I had taken a year off and played video games.

That's how it goes. When you take risks, you sometimes lose.

But - If I had been successful, I would have bought another truck by now, maybe two. I would have employed another driver or two, maybe a part time book keeper. My trucks would have provided work for a local mechanic, business for the local truck parts store, tire dealer, and fuel stop.

THAT'S "spreading the wealth around".

But I failed.

And nobody bailed me out. Nor would I have wanted them to.

You see, I know, because I found out the hard way, how difficult it is to be successful running your own business, and the people who make it work should be celebrated by the whole community.

Not labeled "The Rich", and attacked and expected to hand over ever increasing amounts of the rewards that they earn through their sacrifice, talent, or plain old hard, back-breaking and tedious work.

I will try again. Some day, I will again be self employed, employ other people, and spread the wealth around my community the way it should be done, and I will take the lessons that I learned the first time and build upon them so that I stand a better chance at success next time.

And I get very angry when I see others around me attempting to stack the deck against me before I get there, simply because they themselves are unwilling to take the chances , work the hours, shoulder the responsibility that I do.

I am Joe The Plumber.

And so are you.

10 comments:

Mark said...

"Some day, I will again be self employed, employ other people, and spread the wealth around my community the way it should be done, and I will take the lessons that I learned the first time and build upon them so that I stand a better chance at success next time."

Not if Obama gets elected. But cheer up! You might get a cushy Government job!

Mark said...

Because All jobs will be government jobs.

Mark said...

Government, under Obama and a filibuster proof Democrat congress, will own all industry.

tugboatcapn said...

No, I don't want a Government job, Mark.

Obama will not let me starve.

If I cannot keep what I earn, I simply will not work.

Mark said...

I think the reason people aren't concerned about Obama being a Marxist is because they really don't understand exactly how dangerous Marxism is to America.

For all readers, I don't usually visit other people's blogs to promote my own, but I have written a post that I feel is vitally important to help educate those who have yet to understand the dangerous implications of an Obama administration. If you don't know why you should be concerned about Obama's Marxist ideology please visit and be educated.

Trader Rick said...

When I was in High School in Florida in the mid 1960's (Think Cold War), there was a State-mandated course for Seniors called "Americanism vs. Communism" --our course was taught by a retired Army Colonel. We read Marx.

Guess you couldn't have anything like that today...

Go Gators!

tugboatcapn said...

I have a copy of the Communist Manifesto right here on my desk beside my computer.

Along with my pocket Constitution, and the Bible.

Ms.Green said...

Tug, you are the kind of guy that makes America great. You work hard, you persevere, and you take your losses like a man, regroup, and go at it again. My husband is one of those kind of guys too. He's had multiple businesses - some have failed, some have been a success - but even in hard times (and there have been hard times), he never asked for a hand-out.

If Obama wins, the days of the American Dream will turn into an American nightmare.

Anonymous said...

I am not Joe.

I know the difference between gross revenue and net income.

In Joe the Plumber's world I'd probably get the Nobel in economics.

Cheers!

tugboatcapn said...

Probably not.

People in Joe The Plumber's world know the difference between a Tax Cut and a Government Handout.

All you get is the Booby Prize for loudmouthed stupidity.