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The Affordable Plumbing Act Only weeks after leaving office on January 20, 2017, former president Obamadiscovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Joe the Plumber to come out andfix it. Joe drives to Obama' s new house, located in a very exclusive,gated community near Chicago where all the residents have a net income ofmore than $250,000 per year. Joe arrives and takes his tools into the house. Joe is led to the guestbathroom that contains the leaky pipe under the sink. Joe assesses theproblem and tells Obama that it's an easy repair that will take less than 10minutes. Obama asks Joe how much it will cost. Joe checks his rate chart andsays, "$9,500." "What?!? $9,500???" Obama asks, stunned. But you said it'san easy repair Michelle will have a fit if I pay a plumber that much!" Joe says, "Yes, but what I do is charge those who make $250,000 per year amuch higher amount so I can fix the plumbing of poorer people for free,"explains Joe. "This has always been my philosophy. As a matter of fact, Ilobbied the Democrat Congress, who passed this philosophy into law. Now allplumbers must do business this way. It's known as 'The Affordable PlumbingAct of 2014.' I'm surprised you don't remember it." In spite of that, Obama tells Joe there's no way he's paying that much fora small plumbing repair, so Joe leaves. Obama spends the next hour flippingthrough the phone book calling for another plumber, but he finds that allother plumbing businesses in the area have gone out of business. Not wantingto pay Joe's price, Obama does nothing and the leak goes unrepaired forseveral more days.A week later the leak is so bad that Obama has had to put a bucket underthe sink. Michelle is not happy as she has Oprah and guests arriving thenext morning. The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hourand there's a risk that the room will flood, so Obama calls Joe and pleadswith him to return. Joe goes back to Obama's house, looks at the leaky pipe, checks his newrate chart and says, "Well, let's see, this will now cost you $21,000." Obama quickly fires back, "What! A few days ago you told me it would cost$9,500! Joe explains, "Well, because of the 'Affordable Plumbing Act,' a lot ofwealthier people are learning how to maintain their own plumbing, so thereare fewer payers into the plumbing exchanges."As a result, the price I have to charge wealthy people like you keepsrising. Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work bythose who get it for free has skyrocketed! There's a long waiting list ofthose who need repairs, but the amount we get doesn't cover our costs.This unfortunately has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business,they're not being replaced, and nobody is going into the plumbing businessbecause they know they can't make any money at it. I'm hurting, too—allthanks to greedy rich people like you, who won't pay their fair share."
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