“Spread my work ethic, not my wealth”
“Spread My Work Ethic, Not My Wealth” is a bumper sticker slogan that has been a popular tea party slogan since April 2009.
The saying might be related to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s October 12, 2008 conversation with “Joe the Plumber.” Obama said “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody”—remarks that many viewed as socialism.
Wikipedia: joe the Plumber
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher ( /ˈwɜrtsəlbɑːkər/; born December 3, 1973), famously dubbed Joe the Plumber, is a resident of Ohio, United States who gained significant attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. As an employee of a plumbing contractor, he was given the moniker “Joe the Plumber” after he was videotaped questioning then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama about his small business tax policy during a campaign stop in Ohio. The Republican McCain-Palin campaign later applied “Joe the Plumber” as a metaphor for middle-class Americans. He subsequently published a book about his experiences, and has appeared as a motivational speaker and commentator.
Involvement in the presidential election of 2008
Encounter with Barack Obama
On October 12, 2008, three days before the final presidential debate, Obama met residents in Wurzelbacher’s Ohio neighborhood. Wurzelbacher, who had been playing football with his son in his front yard at the time, asked Obama about his tax plan. Wurzelbacher suggested that Obama’s tax plan would be at odds with “the American dream.” Wurzelbacher said, “I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes 250 to 280 thousand dollars a year. Your new tax plan’s going to tax me more, isn’t it?”
Obama responded with an explanation of how his tax plan would affect a small business in this bracket. Obama said, “If you’re a small business, which you would qualify, first of all, you would get a 50 percent tax credit so you’d get a cut in taxes for your health care costs. So you would actually get a tax cut on that part. If your revenue is above 250, then from 250 down, your taxes are going to stay the same. It is true that, say for 250 up — from 250 to 300 or so, so for that additional amount, you’d go from 36 to 39 percent, which is what it was under Bill Clinton.”
Obama also said, “It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance at success, too… My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off [...] if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
Amazon.com
Spread My Work Ethic Not My Wealth; bumper sticker
KOMO News (WA)
Hundreds stage anti-bailout protest in Yakima
By Associated Press
Story Published: Apr 12, 2009 at 7:44 AM PST
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in Yakima to protest the federal government’s program of bailouts and stimulus spending to fight the economic recession.
Saturday’s demonstration was billed as a “tea party” in the revolutionary spirit of the 1773 Boston Tea Party.
Some participants wore tea bags as earrings, and protest signs urging personal responsibility bore slogans such as, “Spread my work ethic, not my wealth,” and, “Drunken sailors have better budgets.”
Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA)
Hundreds Protest Taxation
April 16, 2009|By Samieh Shalash, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 247-4537
NEWPORT NEWS — Uncle Sam milled around City Center in a sparkly blue jacket Wednesday, stopping to pose with fellow tax day protesters.
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Bob Scott wore a homemade sandwich board with the words “Only idiots and politicians think you can spend your way out of debt. Spread my work ethic, not my wealth.”
Moonbattery
April 24, 2009
Top Tea Party Slogans
Tea Party Patriots has collected a few of the inspiring slogans we saw on Tax Day. Some samples:
The more you make the more they take.
Spread my work ethic, not my wealth.
SeacoastOnline.com
Tea party takes aim at taxes
By Alexis Macarchuk
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
April 16, 2010 2:00 AM
PORTSMOUTH — Supporters of Thursday’s Tax Day Tea party at Prescott Park showed their patriotic spirit — some wearing Daniel Boone caps or red, white and blue necklaces, others waving “don’t tread on me” flags and adorning their dogs with American flag handkerchiefs.
A crowd police estimated to be about 250 people gathered for a two-hour tax day protest and re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party. Five people dressed in Revolutionary garb pretended to dump boxes labeled “Obama care,” “cap and trade,” “taxes” and “amnesty” into the Piscataqua River.
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Flags and banners relaying messages like “spread my work ethic, not my wealth,” and “keep your change, stop spending mine,” dotted the crowd.