Essay #3 Assignment Sheet: National Debt

How do you understand an idea? A concept? A way of looking at the world? And why? Why is it necessary to do this?

On one level, the "how to" is easy: first read up on the subject and then, to truly understand it, write about it; second, you have to want to understand the idea or concept.

Why is that desire to understand so important? Because without it, you will not devote the necessary mental energy needed to feed your imagination. And your imagination and intellect -- the left and right side of your brain -- are necessary to fire off the neurons that will get you to understand abstractions. That understanding lies at the core of the college endeavor. It is this ability to understand connections between seemingly disparate ideas or evidence that mean the difference between a job with a corner office ("I'm presenting at the London conference") -- and a job in a grease trap ("Where does this used lard go?")

This next assignment is designed to get you in that corner office. It will show you how to understand, form an opinion on, and then write about an abstract concept: in this case, the best way to reduce America's national debt.

It's clear that the federal government is currently in debt: the question is what is the best way to reduce the debt. This is similar to solutions in essay #1, but in this case, instead of reporting what others feel is the solution, you'll research and then develop your own solution.

The importance of this kind of writing is clear: your votes and taxes are involved. You want to vote for candidates who share your opinions on the best way to address problems -- and since they decide how our tax dollars are spent, government debt needs to be addressed by politicians.

Begin thinking early -- and asking classmates, other professors, family, friends, random people on the street, etc., questions about this topic. You'll find that some people are stuck in their own ideas about the economy or don't really think about it.

In life you have to make choices. You can live the unexamined life, like Calvin (the little boy in the cartoon) above. But why not do both? Why not live for the moment and watch the road (a cement truck is one of the best examples of kinetic energy -- particularly when it hits a pedestrian). Hobbes's (that oh so intelligent tiger) motto "Look down the road" suggests that foresight and knowledge are necessary to truly enjoy life -- and to avoid being buried in an envelope.

Discourse
ideologies, conservative, liberal, recession, capitalism, socialism,

These are some of the terms you've heard about: now you'll get a chance to understand them.

1) write an essay that argues that ____ is the best way to reduce the national debt. Your divisions would consist of different reasons why this is the direction America should take

2) write an essay arguing that ____, ____, and _____ are the best ways to reduce the national debt. Here your divisions would list out suggests for reducing the national debt.

This is an academic essay, so the tone is formal, but remember that you need to keep the reader interested. Follow the suggestions below for planning, drafting, and revising your essay. As stated in the Assignment sheet for essay #1, for this and all essays, assume your audience is college educated (or getting there).

Requirements
Final draft, minimum of 1,150 words. In addition to at least three of the assigned essays, you need to include a minimum of one other source (which means a minimum of four works cited entries and at least four in-text citations): most good essays use five-six sources. That said, the emphasis is on your reasoning: it's what you actually do with the sources that makes a good essay. Essay must include introduction (with thesis and division statement), body paragraphs, counter-arguments and rebuttal, and conclusion.

Note on sources
See "How Do I Find Sources" ( I&C 139 +) for help on, well, finding sources. If taken from the internet, sources MUST be from the libraries databases, which can be accessed through the "Library Links" on the course site through our library's home page. ANY other internet source MUST (that's MUST) be approved by me before (that's BEFORE) you include them in your essay. The penalty? A substantially lowered grade (i.e. in the "D" range).

Learning Objectives
After successfully completing this assignment you will have learned how to

Grading Criteria
To receive a passing grade, you must successfully complete the following:
Organization : A thesis statement which clearly states the subject, your position and the divisions of your essay. A counter-argument and rebuttal.
Content : Overview of issue you're discussing; clear and balanced arguments, developed with examples, descriptions and narratives, and a full and persuasive development of the reasoning behind each of the examples.
Proofreading : Sentences that are clear and no more than 5 major errors (major errors include sentence fragments, run-on sentences, verb-tense error, subject-verb agreement error, unclear phrasing, documentation and spelling/wrong word error).

Things to Watch for
Lack of explanation. Your examples do not speak for themselves -- in fact, your argument lies not in the evidence, but in why and how the evidence supports your point. And since examples can't speak, it's up to you to connect them to the point of your paragraph and the larger point of your essay.

You should make up your own writer's notes. If you like, you can copy and paste the following as a template:

5 Myths About the Deficit; Washington Post, Gale, William G.

Nov 28, 2010 | pg.B.2 | Lexile Score: 1310 | Size: 12K | SIRS Researcher

Summary: "Budgets may be boring, but the stakes before us are exceedingly high. As we go about reducing the deficit, who will pay which taxes? How will we defend our country? And how will we treat our elderly? Unfortunately, questionable thinking and outright distortions by critics from across the political spectrum are getting in the way of these and other difficult decisions." (Washington Post) In this article, the author comments on five myths about the U.S. federal budget deficit.

Higher Taxes Won't Reduce the Deficit; Wall Street Journal, Moore, Stephen, and Richard Vedder

Nov 22, 2010 | pg.A.17 | Lexile Score: 1380 | Size: 6K | SIRS Researcher

Summary: "The draft recommendations of the president's commission on deficit reduction call for closing popular tax deductions, higher gas taxes and other revenue raisers to drive tax collections up to 21% of GDP [gross domestic product] from the historical norm of about 18.5%. Another plan, proposed last week [Nov. 2010] by commission member and former Congressional Budget Office director Alice Rivlin, would impose a 6.5% national sales tax on consumers. The claim here, echoed by endless purveyors of conventional wisdom in Washington, is that these added revenues--potentially a half-trillion dollars a year--will be used to reduce the $8 trillion to $10 trillion deficits in the coming decade. If history is any guide, however, that won't happen. Instead, Congress will simply spend the money." (Wall Street Journal) In this article, the authors contend that "higher tax collections" won't result in less government spending.

Let Economy Heal Before Cutting Debt; International Herald Tribune, Romer, Christina D.

Oct 23, 2010 | pg. 10 | Lexile Score: 1270 | Size: 7K | SIRS Researcher

Summary: "So, the question is not whether the United States needs to reduce its deficit. Of course it does. The question is when. Now is not the time. Unemployment is still near 10 percent in the United States and in Europe. Tax cuts and spending increases stimulate demand and raise output and employment; tax increases and spending cuts have the opposite effect." (International Herald Tribune) Christina Romer, former chairwoman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, argues that making spending cuts now will harm the U.S. economy.

Most students suggest rereading selected parts of the essays. Look over your notes for specific arguments that discuss how to reduce the national debt. These will often be connected to arguments about the size and strength of government.

More specifically, look over the following quick outline and the more detailed examples below.

Basic Drafting Plan

Developing Reasons and Choosing a Position part 2

It ain't easy, is it? If you're not a demagogue, you should have conflicting opinions: you probably find that there is both good and bad elements of any issue. This is as it should be. Your goal now is to winnow out the positives and negatives and decide which, on the whole, is best for America .

"How do I winnow?" Glad you asked. Remember essay #2? After some pre-writing you generated a list of different reasons for an against a topic. Same thing here. Using the ideas in the readings, your new-found (or tried and tested) knowledge of current events, the "How Do I Come up With Reasons " in I&C, and considering both short and long term effects, generate a list of reasons for and against your topic. Putting this on paper should help you determine which position is best for America .

Divisions/Thesis statement

The main point here is to choose your divisions and practice persuading your reader why these divisions prove your position is valid. Again, try, whenever possible, to relate your position to "real-life" to illustrate its relevancy.

For ideas on divisions, look over the specific reasons you've developed, both through the readings and (gasp!) through your own thinking on this issue.

Words and Sentence patterns to use

When introducing (providing a context) your examples or explaining them, use the verb list in the "Citing Sources" section of I&C to shift your language into an argumentative discourse.

Developing Body Paragraphs

It's your job to prove the validity of your ideas regarding the shrinking of the national debt. Using argumentative discourse will help ("This will" "These statistics prove") shift your essay into, well, an argument.

Should you use personal examples? Yes. Should you use examples from the readings and or from textbooks from other courses? Yes. Should you use examples from "real life"? Yes. Could you invent scenarios? Yes. Should you tell your readers that these scenarios are invented? Yes. Most importantly, should you remember that this is only the first of many drafts and the most important thing to do is finish the darn thing? Yes. Are you tired of me asking "yes" questions?

See revision section of Packet on Income Inequality for suggestions on revision (a different but related topic). Make allowances for changes in the topic.

See proofreading section of I&C and packet above for suggestions on proofreading.