PS UPS

I was having lunch with Madeleine Franco, a friend of mine, the other day.  Of course, as ladies will do, we started having a loud, heated discussion about politics over our quasi-Italian lunch.  She explained her Motel 6 theory to me, which might actually explain your average person in the USA.  This is probably the best theory I have ever heard.

So here is Madeleine Franco’s Motel 6 Economics Theory:

Call it what you will . . . “Reagonomics,” “Voodoo Economics,” or “Trickle-down Theory,” the more I hear about “Joe the Plumber,” the more I am convinced that Republican economic theory has finally evolved into ”Motel 6 Economics.”

Motel 6 Economics, a much more sophisticated theory, is based on a political phenomenon designed to cause the middle class and the poor to repeatedly vote against their own and human interests in favor of tax breaks for the wealthy. It is predicated and promulgated upon the belief that, if by some weird and totally unexpected and unthinkable twist of fate, a member of the poor or middle class becomes rich, the wealthy will have already set things up for minimal taxes and will ”leave the light on for ya.” In the meantime, however, it’s all the poor fools can do to pay for their tradesman’s licenses and back taxes.

You just gotta love how the Joe the Plumber story has unfolded:

(1) His name isn’t Joe; it’s Samuel

(2) He’s not a licensed plumber

(3) He owed several years of back taxes

(4) He is in no position to buy his employer’s business and apparently was not on a track to do so (see again items 2 and 3)

(5) He is basically a wannabe politician/country singer.

(6) He now has a publicist and a possible record deal; opportunistic more than politically thoughtful would appear to describe him. What goes around comes around.

(7) Joe failed to show up at an Ohio rally last Thursday  morning, where McCain thought he was in the crowd to answer McCain’s solicitation for him to stand up.

(8) McCain dealt with it by saying to the crowd, “You’re all ‘Joe the Plumbers’, so you can all stand up.” Light (extremely light) cheering followed. The McCain campaign now finds itself covering for Joe’s absence by saying they had him slated for another rally today.

Now, given the above, who again doesn’t know the working class? Heck, the Rs don’t even know their own mascots!

If either (a) McCain’s lack of knowledge of what day it is or what rally he’s at, or (b) his inability to assess how quickly a gimmick becomes hackneyed, or (c) his staff’s inability to check things out to eliminate embarrassment are any indication of what a McCain administration might be like, if he wins, I think we may need to look for a new planet.

Madeleine Franco