James Montgomery’s letter to the editor, “Don’t Blame Obama” (Aug. 21), is too full of inaccuracies to address them all, but I would like to address some of the more egregious.

Concerning his derision of “tax cuts for the rich,” there were no tax cuts for the rich. Under President George W. Bush everyone who paid income tax got a tax cut. According to IRS figures the top 1 percent of wealthy Americans pay 38 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 65 percent of the income tax, and the top 50 percent pay it all. Fully 50 percent of Americans pay no federal income tax.

He states that we should not forget about the “tax cuts in education, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.” Aside from not being clear what is meant by a “tax” cut in these programs, the truth is that these programs have not been cut. They most certainly will be — one way or the other — either through an orderly, planned process, or through economic collapse because clearly, the current path is unsustainable. The United States is broke.

And what about the claim that Bush left us with “record high unemployment?” How can that be true when unemployment is much higher now under Barack Hussein Obama? The math doesn’t work.

Finally, what about the “radical group of Republicans who call themselves the Tea Party”? The Tea Party has three foundational principles:

• Government within the parameters of the United States Constitution

• Fiscal responsibility

• Free markets and free enterprise.

If these are radical, then what does that make Obama who has quadrupled the annual budget deficit, added trillions to the national debt, watched helplessly as unemployment climbed to 9.2 percent, failed to pass a budget even when in control of both houses of Congress, traveled around the world apologizing for the arrogance of America, and for good measure, bowed to the despot King of Saudi Arabia?

I suggest clueless, inept, incompetent, and surrounded by like-minded people.

Robert Peters

Vicksburg