This page was last updated on September 13, 2012.
Do what’s best for all; Tony DiRienzo; Beaver County Times; September 13, 2012.
Previous letters from Mr. DiRienzo I critiqued are here, here, here, and here. Mr. DiRienzo is a lefty, and not just a little. In 2000, Mr. DiRienzo wrote, “Ralph Nader is looking real good to me. These two could almost be interchangeable. You could say Al Bush or George Gore.” (Nader is looking better and better; Allegheny Times; October 18, 2000)
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Sometimes you read, listen and try to understand opposing points of views and then shake your head.
“The average American is middle class. Not everyone can be the 1 percent, and that’s OK. I don’t believe anyone enjoys being poor, although you listen to some and views vary. Try to bring up a small family on a $10-an-hour job.
“Are you better off today than four years ago? Let’s take a look. The country, brought back from the edge of financial collapse. One war over and the other winding down. Auto industry saved. No one, I repeat, no one, has lost health care because of the Affordable Health Care Act. Taxes have not increased at the federal level. Who pays the bill for that? I’m not sure but more good-paying jobs would raise taxes, the more you make, the more you are supposed to pay.”
[RWC] “One war over and the other winding down?” – Regarding Iraq, President Obama simply followed the agreement negotiated by the Bush administration with the Iraqis. Regarding Afghanistan, President Obama increased the troop level in Afghanistan even though then-Sen. Obama opposed the 2007 Iraq troop surge.
“Auto industry saved?” - All Mr. Obama did was throw our taxpayer dollars at Chrysler and GM to protect labor union management from traditional bankruptcy proceedings while screwing-over the bondholders. GM alone received “$50 billion in TARP bailout funds, a special exemption waiving payment of $45.4 billion in taxes on future profits, an exemption for all product liability on cars sold before the bailout, $360 million in stimulus funds, and the $7,500 tax credit for those who buy the Chevy Volt.” Of that, President Bush directed about $13 billion of our paychecks, pension checks, etc. to this improper use of tax dollars. Just as happens all the time, Chrysler and GM would not have gone out of business had Mr. Obama left our traditional bankruptcy laws play out. Ford didn’t participate in this scam.
“No one, I repeat, no one, has lost health care because of the Affordable Health Care Act.” – That’s because many of the serious parts of Obamacare don’t get implemented until 2013 and beyond. Note: “Health care” and healthcare/medical insurance are not the same thing.
“Taxes have not increased at the federal level.” – Wrong again. The Obama administration and Congress (fully Democrat-controlled at the time) raised taxes on the people he promised not to. Effective on April 1, 2009, the federal tobacco tax increase ranged from 158% (cigarettes, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, snuff) at the “low” end to 2,159% (roll-your-own tobacco) and 2,653% (small cigars). As every anti-smoking report tells us, tobacco use is skewed to the lower end of the income scale; the very people Mr. Obama claimed wouldn’t see tax increases.
Is Mr. DiRienzo trying to fool himself into believing he didn’t vote for what he’s complaining about in the previous two paragraphs?
“Big business has crushed the middle class. I lost my pension, took a 25 percent pay cut, paid more for health care, lost vacation and work safety. We are all Americans, let’s do what’s best for all, not some. Remember our veterans, seems like not too many do today.”
[RWC] Mr. DiRienzo’s letters have a history of bashing business. If “Big business has crushed the middle class” as Mr. DiRienzo asserts, what caused it?
“We are all Americans, let’s do what’s best for all, not some.” – As a lefty, Mr. DiRienzo should know doing “what’s best for all” violates the leftist tactic of “divide and conquer.” A major leftist tactic is to divide people into classes and grievance/victim groups along lines of age, education, ethnicity, income, religion, sex, skin color, wealth, et cetera and promise each group some kind of special treatment.
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.