Close Reading - Why We Should Stop Obsessing About the Federal Budget Deficit

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/why-we-should-stop-obsess_b_2155489.html

Robert Reich, who was the Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, and is now a professor of public policy at University of California at Berkeley, thinks that people think that the deficit is the main factor in the economy, when its really not. Reich uses elements of rhetoric diction, details, and syntax.

Reich's uses diction to emphasize that people who support cutting the budget are wrong and that job growth comes from spending. Reich calls deficit cutting an "industry" (para. 6 ln. 1). He is saying that people who only focus on deficit cutting are part of an industry and are fueled by money. The word "hokum" (para. 7 ln. 2) shows the media as a magician, who is showing people an illusion, rather than the truth. Reich says that investment "spurs" (para. 10 ln. 1) public investment. By using the word "spur" he is saying that investment is the spark of job growth. Reich's use of diction shows that the deficit is not really all that important.

Reich's use of details are used to provide previous examples when a balanced budget came out of a strong economy and not from cutting programs. Reich says "the 1990's when the Clinton administration balanced the budget", was not because of cutting spending, but because of "faster job growth than anyone expected" (para. 3 ln. 2-4). Many people remember the 1990's as a time of job growth and a strong economy. By Reich coupling it with a balanced budget, he makes readers associate the two, to make the idea seem very viable.

Reich uses syntax to keep the reader thinking and to make something seem less dangerous. He asks the question "Why don't our politicians and media get this?" (para. 6 ln. 1) referring the affect of our budget on our economy. He places this at the beginning of the paragraph to have the reader think as why they do not get it, then in the next sentence, he quickly answers the question. Reich also calls the "fiscal cliff" a hill. Instead of just saying that it is a hill, he artfully says "(and, yes, I know -- it's not really a "cliff" but more like a hill) " (para. 2 ln. 3-4). by using the parenthesis he is saying that he actually knows its not as serious as everyone thinks it is, but he is just calling it the fiscal cliff, because everyone does.

The use of the elements of rhetoric in this paper are used to strengthen his argument that the deficit is not the huge problem that people make it out to be and that the fiscal cliff is not that serious either.