Joe vs. Sam

In the most recent debate, an average blue collar worker was made famous overnight. The man and his situation were brought up a combined 23 times between Obama and McCain. Joe was his name. A plumber was his profession. Days earlier he had expressed his concern to Barack Obama about his proposed tax plan. Barack Obama's plan says that he will not raise taxes on anyone making over $250,000 a year. In fact, he will lower the income tax for the people in this category. People making over the sum, will be required to pay a slightly higher percentage tax on their income.
Joe the plumber was not happy with this plan. He was planning to buy the plumbing company he has worked for, and was concerned that he would have to pay more should he be able to make more then $250,000 a year. Joe's question has brought up a new point to be used in attack against Obama. McCain stated that this tax hike will hurt all small business owners and only make our current economic sittuation worse. How true are these claims?
The fact is that most small business owners DO NOT make $250,000 a year. In fact, not to many Americans make that much money at all. Even the average wage for doctors and lawers is about $150,000, which is only 3/5ths of $250,000. Acconrding to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average small business makes $35,000 - $70,000 a year. Barack's tax cuts would help small businesses much more than McCain's would. There are about 1.3 million Americans that make $250,000, and most of those people are either entertainment or sports figures, corperate CEOs, investment brokers and speculators, sales proffessionals, top quality attourneys and doctors, and those whore are born into money. An extra $15,000 off of their yearly income would not in any way harm the economy.
Yes, there is a very small percentage of small business owners that DO make more than $250,000 a year. One would expect most of them to have oppinions such as Joe's. That was not the case with Sam, an owner of about 100 gas stations in Southern California. Sam will be voting democrat for the first time in his life this year. Even though he will be taxed slightly more under the new plan, he knows that it is better for America. Gas stations only make a few cents of profit per gallon sold. Most of the income is generated from the convinence stores attached to the station. Sam has said, "If people are hurting, I make less on gas, and that right now, people aren't buying." Sam realizes that with a stronger middle class, everyone benefits.

Article about "Sam" by John Seery
Who makes 250,000? Article
Fox news responds to Obama's reply to "Joe"

What it takes to be President

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-m-bartels/c-students-welcome_b_131170.html

For my fourth blog post assignment, I read Larry M. Bartels's article "C Students Welcome" on the Huffington Post blog site. The article addressed Sarah Palin and her debate against Joe Biden tonight. In her previous interviews she has been criticized, rightfully so in my opinion, for not having the knowledge to be the VP. Tonight she can either step up and prove skeptics wrong, or make herself ignorant to the issues compared to Biden.
What surprised me in the article was that most people do not even care that much about a candidates knowledge. In a survey conducted by the National Election Study Team, reports show that knowledge is the least important of 4 major issues a president should have. It was placed significantly lower than being a strong leader, caring about the people, and having proper morals. only 1.3% of participants said that they would change their vote because of the intelligence of their candidate. This statistic greatly surprised me because I value intelligence and knowledge of the issues extremely important for a president to have.