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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (427491)	10/17/2008 2:57:09 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1578430

By the ordinary English definition he is a plumber. As a term of art within the industry he might be an "apprentice plumber", or an "assistant plumber", but he would still typically be called a plumber, the same was an associate professor would be called a professor by most people, even though they are a full professor. And if he was even thinking about buying a business, apparently he's near the point we he would be a journeyman. How did he get the money, I have no idea, but that doesn't mean he didn't have it, or wasn't approaching having it. I know some people who don't have huge incomes who have saved up a ton of money so its possible, also maybe someone else was going to own part of the business, maybe he inherited money, or had some investment that did well (despite the recent poor performance of most types of investments). I don't really know, or care. The issue to me isn't "Joe the plumber", its small businesses in general. "Joe the plumber" gets attention because people pay more attention when ideas can be presented in terms of people or narratives, but its the ideas and plans that are important, not one specific person.

To: combjelly who wrote (427491)	10/17/2008 2:57:20 PM
From: i-node	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578430

Which brings up an interesting point. How can an apprentice make enough to buy a business that generates a profit of $250k a year or more? A master plumber, maybe. Worked hard and saved, maybe refi on the house. But, an apprentice? I think it goes to the fact that determined, self-employed people have unlimited opportunity that results from HARD WORK. That's why most of us are really pissed about Obama's "spread the wealth" plan. We took risks, had lean years where we could scarcely pay our bills, rolled the dice by investing our money in our business, and then got to a point of success, and now this creep wants to take our profits and give them to people who haven't worked as hard as we have or have settled for having a job instead of doing the hard work to run a business. Small business IS the backbone of our country -- because small businesses become big businesses and they are the key to putting people to work. When you take small business capital away just because they are making a mere 250K, you eliminate the chance for small business to expand into something bigger. It is the dumbest policy I can imagine for a country that WANTS economic growth.

To: combjelly who wrote (427491)	10/17/2008 3:07:22 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 1578430

"Which brings up an interesting point. How can an apprentice make enough to buy a business that generates a profit of $250k a year or more? A master plumber, maybe. Worked hard and saved, maybe refi on the house. But, an apprentice?" A little Keating money in his pocket?