The Subway Sandwich Wars : Jon Stewart on John Fleming

I just watched the Jon Stewart show of Wed Sep 21, 2011 and found it downright to the point and extremely hilarious and wanted to note it right away. The topic of comical discussion in the show was President Obama's plan to reform the tax code so that high income ( > $1m) and large corporations pay more tax. Stewart shows a clipping of Fox News (as always, either Fox which is fairly right wing or CNN which is so fluffy) interview with Louisiana Republican Representative John Fleming as a 'small' business owner. Fleming owns 33 Subway franchises and some UPS franchises and makes an annual turnover of over $6m and would technically be affected by the tax reform plan.

This is where the fun starts. Fleming claims that after all the taxes he pays now, pays his 500 employees, he has around 600000 left to 'feed' his family. And after he feeds his family, he has 'only' 400000 left to reinvest in his business (Mr. Fleming, reinvestments are not personal-taxable, get a better tax consultant). That means his ravenous family 'feeds' on 200000 per year! Guess what you can buy with that amount - Stewart very smartly points out, that there is a place where you can buy a full 12" of food for $5 (yes, its Subway of which he owns 33) - would buy 40000ft of food to eat in year by his family.

This is the best example for what Obama mentioned - this tax reform and debt resolution is not class warfare, its simple math. Mr. Fleming definitely needs some math lessons. And for the same reason, I cannot wait for Sarah Palin to enter the 2012 presidential race and behold, even better if she ever manages to get the job!