EN1420

Understanding Rhetorical Structures

Since 2008, the United States economy has been in a recession. The recession has caused many individuals to lose employment, homes, and savings. The economy collapsed due to a variety of reasons of poor finance, lack of regulations, and government legislation. The politicians in Washington have attempted several methods to inject life into the economy. One common practice to boost local and government economies is through taxation. The practice was first introduced through President Ronald Reagan. His idea involved that lowering taxes for wealthy would increase an economy. The purpose of this analysis is to examine a recent article that proposes in today’s era that lowering taxes for the wealthy is not a solution.

The article is developed to provide an insight to the different strategies for economic relief. There are a variety of ways our politicians can attempt to stimulate the economy. First, they could lower taxes for everyone. This would in effect give all people a better financial position to spend and boost local economies. Lowering of taxes could also be class targeted. The argument is based on leaving money in the hands of those who will use the money to expand business and increase prosperity, including creating new jobs as stated by (Numbers Don’t Lie, 2012.)
President Ronald Reagan is credited with first using this method. During his administration he lowered the taxes on the wealthy. The theory is that by lowering taxes for the wealthy that it creates jobs. The author proposes that this economy stimulus model may have worked before but is not effective any more. The next President George H.W. Bush also continued this initiative as a major component of his administration was the promise of no new taxes. President Bush was aware of an exploding national debt that was the result of the lower taxes.

The results of data collected illustrate that the tax increases by President Bush and then by President Clinton actually increased economic growth. The sharp drop in economic activity represents the economic failure during the second President George W. Bush’s administration. This economic collapse is associated with the failure of the technology bubble. The economic failures caused President George W. Bush to enact similar tax cuts of those of President Reagan. As evidenced, these tax cuts for the wealthy were not effective. In 2001 the economy continued to slide after the tax cuts were enacted. In the year 2003, the tax cuts still had not taken effect so President Bush attempted another round of tax cuts. Despite the two attempts the economy continued to slump. The first event was the technology sector’s rapid growth. Technologies rapid expansion could have been responsible for the economic surplus shown during President Bill Clinton’s administration. The attacks of September 11, 2001 could also have played a bigger role in why the economy was not rebounding.
Economists and politicians will continue this debate for years. The article does at least propose one valid point that the data is inconclusive. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 may have played a role in the continued recession of the economy. The same events of the technology boom could have helped develop and economic surplus. In conclusion, the data is so incomplete that there appears to be no correlation between raising and lowering taxes. These tools may have effects on the economy but there is no definite set of positives and consequences.

Reference
The Numbers Don’t Lie-Why Lowering Taxes For The Rich No Longer Works To Grow The Economy. (2012, September 16). Retrieved June 22, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/09/16/the-numbers-dont-lie-why-lowering-taxes-for-the-rich-no-longer-works-to-grow-the-economy/