> Obama has a leak under his sink, so he calls Joe the Plumber to
> come and fix it.
> Joe drives to Obama's house, which is located in a very nice neighborhood
> and where it's clear that all the residents make more than $250,000 per
> year.
> Joe arrives and takes his tools into the house. Joe is led to the room that
> contains the leaky pipe under a sink. Joe assesses the problem and tells
> Obama, who is standing near the door, that it's an easy repair that will
> take less than 10 minutes.
> Obama asks Joe how much it will cost.
> Joe immediately says, "$9,500."
> "$9,500?" Obama asks, stunned. "But you said it's an easy repair!"
> "Yes, but what I do is charge a lot more to my clients who make more than
> $250,000 per year so I can fix the plumbing of everybody who makes less than
> that for free," explains Joe. "It's always been my philosophy. As a matter
> of fact, I lobbied government to pass this philosophy as law, and it did
> pass earlier this year, so now all plumbers have to do business this way.
> It's known as 'Joe's Fair Plumbing Act of 2008.' Surprised you haven't heard
> of it, senator."
> In spite of that, Obama tells Joe there's no way he's paying that much for a
> small plumbing repair, so Joe leaves.
> Obama spends the next hour flipping through the phone book looking for
> another plumber, but he finds that all other plumbing businesses listed have
> gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Joe's price, Obama does nothing.
> The leak under Obama's sink goes unrepaired for the next several days.
>
>
> A week later the leak is so bad that Obama has had to put a bucket under the
> sink. The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and
> there's a risk that the room will flood, so Obama calls Joe and pleads with
> him to return.
> Joe goes back to Obama's house, looks at the leaky pipe, and says "Let's see
> - this will cost you about $21,000."
> "A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!" Obama quickly fires back.
> Joe explains the reason for the dramatic increase. "Well, because of the
> 'Joe's Fair Plumbing Act,' a lot of rich people are learning how to fix
> their own plumbing, so there are fewer of you paying for all the free
> plumbing I'm doing for the people who make less than $250,000. As a result,
> the rate I have to charge my wealthy paying customers rises every day.
> "Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work from the
> group of people who get it for free has skyrocketed, and there's a long
> waiting list of those who need repairs. This has put a lot of my fellow
> plumbers out of business, and they're not being replaced - nobody is going
> into the plumbing business because they know they won't make any money. I'm
> hurting now, too. - All thanks to greedy rich people like you who won't pay
> their fair share."
> Obama tries to straighten out the plumber: "Of course you're hurting, Joe!
> Don't you get it? If all the rich people learn how to fix their own plumbing
> and you refuse to charge the poorer people for your services, you'll be
> broke, and then what will you do?"
>
>
> Joe immediately replies, "Run for president, apparently."
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