Political history has given us many great economic portmanteaus--Reaganomics, Clintonomics, etc. But it's clear that this year's lasting contribution to that list should not be 'Obamanomics,' or the awkward 'McCainomics' (how about mavericonomics?). No, it should be Plumbernomics.

Plumbernomics is the phenomenon through which middle-class voters become so confused, misled, or stupid enough that they believe that their taxes would be raised under an (can I just say, 'the'?) Obama administration, even though they plainly would not. Plumbernomics is named after newly-minted American political icon Joe the Plumber, a.k.a. Joe Wurzelbacher, a registered Republican from Holland, Ohio, who confronted Obama about his tax proposals on Sunday and subsequently became a somewhat surreal symbol of the American middle class during the final presidential debate.

Under Obama's tax plan, Joe would get a tax cut--he told Katie Couric he doesn't make over $250,000 a year. Based on the U.S. Department of Labor's figure for the average salary of a plumber ($47,350 in 2007), the average plumber stands to receive about $1,500 in tax savings under Obama's plan--as opposed to less than $700 under McCain's.

But Plumbernomics isn't about numbers, or thinking rationally. Plumbernomics is about believing that Obama's gonna change his mind:

"When's he going to decide that $100,000 is too much, you know? I mean, you're on a slippery slope here. You vote on somebody who decides that $250,000 and you're rich? And $100,000 and you're rich? I mean, where does it end?"

Plumbernomics is about not understanding the difference between revenue and profit:

...he told Obama that the company he is getting ready to buy "makes" $250,000 - $280,000 per year.

Was Wurzelbacher referring to gross revenue or net profits?

Obama's higher taxes on small businesses would be leveled against those whose net profits exceed $250,000 per year, according to Obama's campaign.

And Plumbernomics is apparently about not understanding how a progressive income tax works:

"It's not right for someone to decide you made too much--that you've done too good and now we're going to take some of it back."

Does this guy understand the tax system at all? Does Joe the Plumber really want a flat tax?

Now, Republicans using deception to cause people to vote against their own economic self-interest is nothing new. They've been doing it for years, all across the country.

But this year, they're not using social issues to distract voters--at least, not primarily. They're talking about important issues--they're just lying about them directly. The GOP is smart enough to realize that the singular focus of this election is the economy. And they are smart enough to realize that they can't admit the truth--that Obama would cut taxes for 95% of the country. So they spin and chop up and distort the truth until otherwise intelligent people believe that Obama would raise their taxes, when he clearly wouldn't.

Welcome to the era of Plumbernomics.