The Virtual Life of a Plumber

Poor Joe.

Little did Joe the Plumber know when he popped off to Barack Obama about taxes at a recent campaign event--without benefit of much fact or insight--that he, Joe, would wind up at the center of a maelstrom of international publicity.

For the five or six persons on the planet who missed it, here's a quick look at Joe and his story:

On a recent campaign stop in Toledo, Ohio, a would-be small business owner named Joe Wurzelbacher asked Obama if it were true that Obama would raise taxes on businesses with incomes of more than $250,000 a year. The answer, as many in the media dutifully have explained, is "it depends."

Meanwhile, John McCain, eager to score a big point in his final debate with Obama last night on television, singled out "Joe the Plumber" as an example of one who would suffer more taxes under Obama's plans. The rest is history.

Today Joe the Plumber was the most famous person in America--at least for Andy Warhol's "15 minutes." And all because of a hypothetical question asked of a hypothetical president by a hypothetical small business owner whose hypothetical plans have yet to come to fruition. And all of it exploited by another hypothetical president whose doubtfulness at being elected made him seem desperate in even mentioning Joe in the first place.

Meanwhile millions of real children and real parents who have no health care benefits did NOT show up on the TV talk shows today. That's the trouble with the virtual press and virtual politics: Real People with Real Problems don't stand a chance!

THE MESS EXPLAINED

I am crazy about Ira Glass and "This American Life" on National Public Radio. Today's show dealt with the $840 billion debt we've all just been stuck with as taxpayers.

I daresay most of us still are trying to understand what happened and how we got there. Ira's show goes a long way toward answering our questions.

I recommend two broadcasts in particular: "Another Frightening Show About the Economy" (10/3/08) and "The Giant Pool of Money" (5/9/08), Both are archived at his website: www.thisamericanlife.org

For my part, it's the clearest, most concise discussion of middle class consumer-taxpayer impacts yet. Check it out. You'll be glad you did.