DMI Blog

Mark Winston Griffith

Hey, Joe the Plumber. Redistribute THIS!

You can also most hear the shifting gears of the Republican party messaging machine when you listen to conservatives, led by John McCain, attack Barak Obama for explaining to Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. Joe the Plumber, that the Obama tax policy is designed to "spread around the wealth" in America.

Since then conservative pundits have been trying to paint Obama as an economic terrorist, plotting to blowing up your bank account and dole out the remnants of your paycheck. Other than the stunning hypocrisy that it engenders – Did McCain not endorse a $700 billion transfer of wealth from tax payers to Wall Street and call for a government plan to refinance distressed mortgages? – the most disturbing part of this accusation is that Obama should have to apologize for "wealth distribution" at all.

Not only is wealth distribution as intrinsically American as jazz music, but progressive wealth distribution is something to be proud of and aspire to. Rather than trying to run from this language in fear of being labeled rabid socialists, progressives need to recapture it and then set the record straight about what wealth distribution means in a capitalist society.

What is any tax policy, but not a redistribution of wealth, including George Bush's tax cuts to people making more than $250,000? Taxes are the rent we pay for enjoying what government provides us. It's just that some of us get more from the government while paying relatively less in rent.

Let's ignore for the moment that Joe the Plumber probably would in fact receive tax cuts under Obama's plan. McCain would have you believe that every dime that Joe makes is his and that it shouldn't be "spread around" to anyone else. Well, what about if Joe hires employees? Wouldn't his wage scale choices represent different forms of wealth distribution? What about whether or not he provides health care? Does Joe have any obligation to provide adequate compensation to the very staff who enable him to acquire his "wealth" in the first place.

And what about the common wealth? Joe uses things like public sewer systems and public roads to practice his craft and get from one client to another. Doesn't his business have an obligation to pay for what it consumes and for the footprint in leaves behind?

We need to dispense with the ludicrous notion that the United States has ever been a free market system. From trade agreements, to the public propping up of American manufacturing and agricultural industries, to minimum wage laws, the government's fiscal policies have always made strategic decisions about how to divide up the spoils from the economy. These decisions are only considered "re-distribution" when they don't benefit the rich and big corporations.

Mark Winston Griffith: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 3:00 PM, Oct 20, 2008 in Economy
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