Roylin Petties, III – 4/6/08

This page was last updated on April 6, 2008.

Let’s unite; Roylin Petties, III; Beaver County Times; April 6, 2008.

This is the second letter within a couple of days with an apparently bogus title. Nothing in this letter says anything about uniting anyone.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Cut taxes for the rich and spend more money then we have. That’s the platform of the Republican Party.”

[RWC] Ah, class warfare lingo right from the beginning. Is this the uniting part?

I’ll buy into the “spend more money than we have” assertion, but unfortunately that’s true for Democrats as well. In case Mr. Petties missed it, both Democrat candidates have been bragging about spending increases. Mrs. Clinton even said there’s not enough money to do everything she wants to do. Of the three candidates currently running for president, only Senator McCain didn’t request any pork barrel spending for 2007.

Regarding the tax cuts “for the rich” BS, everyone got tax rate cuts as I’ve noted many times before. “The rich” actually pay a greater portion of taxes now than they did before the tax rate cuts. IRS data shows the top 5% income earners pay 60% of total federal income taxes while the bottom 50% pay only 3% of total federal income taxes. The average rate for the top 1% is about 23% while the average rate for the bottom 50% is only 3%. According to the Tax Foundation, a source used by the Times, “7.8 million low and middle-income families had their entire income tax liabilities erased by the [2001 and 2003 tax rate] cuts.” As a result of the tax rate cuts, in 2004 approximately 44 million filers had no income tax liability, and some actually received “refunds” (the earned income tax “credit” is an example) for taxes they didn’t pay.

“Gasoline prices are at an all-time high, and nothing is being done. President Bush and all his cronies are making millions while people like us suffer.”

[RWC] If President Bush is “making millions,” it isn’t showing up on his income tax forms. For 2006, President and Mrs. Bush reported taxable income of $642,905. Hey, that’s not chump change to be sure, but it’s not millions either. On the other hand, Bill and Hillary Clinton just reported they earned approximately $109 million since 2000. That’s over $13 million/year. Barack Obama? For 2006, Mr. & Mrs. Obama earned $983,826. That’s 53% more than the Bushes.

What does Mr. Petties want President Bush, or any president, to do about high gasoline prices?

“No matter who the Democratic candidate is in the general election, we should rally behind him/her. It is time for a change.”

[RWC] If you believe Mr. Petties will tell us the specific “change” he’s looking for, other than getting rid of Republicans, he’s united with his fellow Democrats and declined to provide that info.

“We need a president who addresses the problems that affect most people, not just the few richest people in the country.”

[RWC] Blah, blah, blah.

“I hear many people complaining about the economy and the housing market; well, here is your chance to so [sic] something about it.”

[RWC] What did President Bush have to do with the subprime lending mess and the economy problems it caused?

“Let’s vote the Republicans out and start new. If we fail to do this, we should get ready to be in Iraq for 100 more years and be led by a man who knows nothing about our economy.”

[RWC] Does Mr. Petties mean Barack Obama? Mr. Petties is referring to Mr. McCain, of course, and here are the quotes upon which Mr. Petties makes his ridiculous assertions.

Regarding Iraq, here’s how CNN reported Mr. McCain’s comment: “Last month, at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, a crowd member asked McCain about a Bush statement that troops could stay in Iraq for 50 years. ‘Maybe 100,’ McCain replied. ‘As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, it’s fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day.’” As we all know, this is exactly the same strategy we followed at the end of World War II and the Korean War and we still have troops stationed in Germany, Japan, and South Korea.

Regarding the “man who knows nothing about our economy” comment, I addressed this myth in my critique of a Nikola Drobac letter.