John McCain’s ‘Joe the Plumber’ couldn’t buy a plumbing business if he wanted to, and that has nothing to do with Barack Obama

BY STARLA VAUGHNS CHERIN
FLORIDA COURIER

Joe Wurzelbacher, now known nationwide as Joe the Plumber, is an Ohio man thrust into the political spotlight by Sen. John McCain as representing the average American small business owner. Joe said Sen. Barack Obama’s tax plan would prevent him from purchasing a business for $250,000.

Joe isn’t representative of African-American small business owners who say their concerns are meeting payroll and keeping their businesses afloat.

Fort Lauderdale plumber Chicago Jones says the current economic crisis has his daily receipts down to less than $100 a week.

Never this bad
“I started working in plumbing with my father, who in the late 1950s and early 1960s had it tough, but not like this. I’ve gone from $1,000 a day to $45 two weeks ago. Last week I worked for someone else and made $400,” he told the Florida Courier.

Jones had one assistant who worked five days a week. In the last five months, work for the assistant dwindled to the point that he’s called only for special jobs. Steady work from rental property owners has also dried up. “Leaky faucets, stopped up toilets – they don’t call me anymore. It’s cheaper to do it themselves.

Gas increase hurt
“I raised the price for service calls when gas prices began to rise, but I can’t raise the costs of service calls as fast as the rise in costs of gas and materials. I couldn’t afford to continue to raise the prices; I’d price myself out of a job. I have never seen it as bad as it is now.”

According to the U.S. Senate on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, gross receipts for minority firms are on average $162,000 annually. Most African-American small businesses don’t come anywhere near the size standards set by the Small Business Administration, which determines the average small business has between $0.75 and $33.5 million in annual gross receipts with 100 to 1500 employees.

This is why small business owner and adjunct Florida Memorial University professor William Perry III, whose business interests include transportation, food and beverage and real estate, tells the Florida Courier that Joe the Plumber is the antithesis of the average small business owner.

“Nearly 90 percent o

f working families rely upon small businesses with less than 50 employees. Although small businesses make up the largest percentage of the workforce for employees, the average small business doesn’t make $250,000 annually,’’ Perry said.

‘Mischaracterization’
“Joe the Plumber is a mischaracterization of a small business person…a short-term folk life hero created by the media for purely political purposes.

“We don’t have the capital to buy a business or real estate. At present if someone were liquid, it would be the perfect time to buy. That makes Joe the Plumber even more unrealistic, a farce, and the extreme opposite of what a legitimate small business is all about. We are very concerned about cash flow in relation to payroll, providing goods and services, inventory and credit lines just to keep the doors open.”

Credit line crucial
According to a recent report released by the National Business Association, 44 percent of business owners used credit cards for capital expenses, a record high. Perry says that is a recipe for disaster.

“Instead of six percent, now we are paying 12 percent or more, and that is if you can get someone to extend the credit. It’s a double-edged sword to pay back interest and survive at the same time. Most cannot afford to do that, so ultimately they will be adding to the unemployment rate. It has a severe impact on the survivability of a business. A credit line is crucial.”

Help needed now
Obama would eliminate capital gains taxes on startup and small businesses as well as provide a $500 tax credit to workers. He proposes investing $250 million per year into a national network of public and private business incubators to create startup companies in disadvantaged communities.

But both Jones and Perry worry that implementing these strategies won’t come soon enough to stop the hemorrhaging of small businesses.

Savings almost gone
Jones is holding on for dear life.

“So far I haven’t lost my house and I am not in foreclosure, but I am a short distance away from being there. I live in a condominium townhouse and the association fees have increased $100 to pay for a new roof. I was struggling to pay them as it was, and this extra $100 I really don’t have.

“Sen. Obama’s plan will make sure that everyone has affordable health insurance. I have life insurance but no health insurance. I can’t afford it. If I get sick, that’s it – the house and car are gone. I had money put away for a rainy day, but it has been storming and I’ve nearly used up the savings,” Jones told the Florida Courier.

“Through all of this, I’m still grateful I still have somewhere to sleep. I ate today and will eat again later on.’’