Thursday, October 16, 2008

Joe the Plumber is full of shit.

Apparently Joe the Plumber doesn't have a plumbing license. Guess what? It is illegal in Ohio Toledo to perform plumbing work without a license. Given Joe's age (mid 30's) he could have registered to become an apprentice, but one can only be an apprentice for five years. Joe says he's been plumbing illegally for 6 years. If Joe really wants to buy that business, he'll need a Masters Plumbing License, unless he wants to keep his boss on as his employee. Every plumbing shop needs a licensed master plumber on board.

If he starts now it will take at least seven years of schooling, testing and professional experience for Joe to obtain his Masters license, so his concern about Obama's tax plan seems to be the least of his worries in his dream to make $250,000/yr.

Most plumbers today are scrambling for work. With housing starts down, many plumbers are laid off or are cooling their heels on the union 'bench'. Even remodeling which usually picks up when housing starts fall is down because of the credit crisis.

Joe says he works in a two man shop. It is not legal for Joe to work unless he is directly and constantly supervised by his boss. If they charge $100 an hour for their labor the most money they could gross would be $208,000 a year. If they charge $100 an hour for both plumbers they need to be turned in to the Better Business Bureau, because, again, Joe is qualified to do nothing more than manual labor. That $208,000 is their max gross profit working 52 weeks a year/40 hours a week. From that, they need to pay for their plumbing van, their tools, their gas (the price of which more than doubled in the last eight years, Joe. Real plumbing companies are more concerned about that), their healthcare and so on.

If Joe's boss is talking about selling the business for $250,000 trust me it will be a looooong time before they net that profit in a year.

If McCain is going to send shills around to Obama's appearances, he should at least send genuine Americans who have genuine concerns. McCain's problem is that he has never met a genuine American.

P.S. If McCain sold Cindy's $300,000 convention night get up he could buy Joe's business for him. If Ohio officials look into Joe's illegal plumbing activities and shut him down it is the least Daddy Beerbucks could do for his "old buddy Joe".

10 comments:

Little Merry Sunshine said...

It seems Joe ALSO doesn't pay income taxes and is related to Charles Keating. I just wrote about it over on my blog and am going to reference you for a much more thorough explanation of licensing procedures in Ohio.

Great job!

KELSO'S NUTS said...

There is no Joe The Plumber. The only Joe in this whole thing is Biden.

Nobody that dude's age or younger is named "Joe". Young American men are named Jason and Ryan and Cody and stuff like that.

Joe said...

And is first name is Sam, not Joe.

Where does the horror end?

Dr. Zaius said...

Considering the number of lies that he has told, one might think that Joe might run for office on the GOP ticket.

dguzman said...

Repugs don't even know how to tell the truth, do they? Not at any level.

That's just pathetic.

Comrade Kevin said...

Not a particularly effective everyman, that Joe.

Randal Graves said...

More anti-regularjoeism. Not to mention sixpackitis.

Anonymous said...

I like your parting shot, Jess. Puts it in perspective.

Batocchio said...

Damn. Mad research skillz FTW!

I linked this elsewher, but I also liked Thers' take.

Anonymous said...

A good Colchester plumber realizes and values his time as well as your time. He would try very hard to complete the work he set out to finish within the timescale, without surrendering his high standards.
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