Steps of the Argument: Identify the Conclusion The conclusion in order to stimulate a worsening economy congress needs to raise

the minimum wage. Identify who has the burden of proof Obama has the burden of proof because there is a strong lack of public support for his administration, a polarized government, and his recent failure to provide affordable health care. Identify the premises (Premise) there is too great of a gap between the wealthy and the poor, therefore higher wages and better job opportunities need to be available to the middle and lower classes. (relevant) (Sub-Premise) The President made a proposal to simplify the tax code; which would provide incentives for big cooperation's to keep more jobs in America and make it simpler for smaller businesses to file for taxes thereby saving money (relevant) (sub-premise) Provide more work or work training in high schools to help the general public to receive training from the public schools. (Relevant) (sub-premise) Help Americans save for retirement (irrelevant) (sub- premise) pushed for lawmakers to extend emergency unemployment (relevant)

(sub) the republican party isn't presenting and ideas or plans to help fix the economy (irrelevant)

Fallacies Strawman (when I talked about the NSA spying) Slippery slope (wages go up and then people lose jobs, the nation goes into more debt and then China will own us.) Self Sealing (fox news is the only "real" news cast) appeal to popularity or traditional wisdom (music teacher said so, then it must be true) Ad Homonym (talking about president Obama and because he has big ears and he still cant listen, so he must not be right)

Respond to the fallacies This week President Obama presented a proposition to the public about a near two dollar an hour increase in minimum wages. The president says that with families that are making minimum wage makes a yearly net income of 14,500 dollars, and he is proposing that if each house hold will make an additional average of 3,500 more dollars yearly which could help every family with basic expenses, such as clothing, gasoline, or food for the home. Now I agree with this for the most part except for the fact that if we increase wages two more dollars an hour that will only help the remaining people that have jobs, because if we do this then all of the businesses are going to have to lay off at least half of their employees, and there will be no job revenue because no one will be able to buy any products that business are trying to sell because they are going to have to inflate all of their prices for their products which means that unemployment will sky rocket and therefore everyone will still be dependent on the government, which will make the country go into deeper debt, and then we will be owned by the Chinese! If the President really wants to fix this country he needs to stop spying on Americans with the NSA and do some real work and fix the problems that he created with the health care insurance catastrophe that he enforced Americans to get knowing that the website was going to create problems because the people that created the website were not able to secure it; at least that is what I heard from the newscasters from fox news, and my music teacher down the hall and since fox news is actually a real news crew unlike the rest of those other casts out there, and since my music teacher said so (and let's face it, my music teacher loves the Beatles, so everything he says is right). So in conclusion, I would like to say respectfully Mr. President, maybe it's time to start listening to both sides of this democracy, after all there is a democratic side and a republican side to this country or maybe you can't understand this because your head is too small to offset your big ears, so it cant be the fact that you are hard of hearing, it just comes to show that if whoever has big ears and a small head, simply cannot be trusted.

Respond to it fairly Dear Mr. President, Please allow me to respond to your recent proposal to increase the minimum wage and efforts to create more job opportunities for the country. I apologize ahead of time if my interpretation is incorrect. Also, please understand that I am sympathetic towards your ideals but I have numerous concerns that I am sure we both share. Presently, you suggest, the state of our economy is in disarray and is in need of great improvement due to the polarization of the upper and middle classes; this remains seemingly selfevident. The American public cannot afford nor provide for not just a basic means of existence but also an opportunity to flourish. Beyond a public education, there is a minimal chance for people to obtain affordable housing, a decent living wage and higher education. The demographic of potential retirees have an increasingly difficult time to do so and you criticize and challenge the Republican Party for not offering any suggestions or plans to better the situation. Lastly, you want to reform the tax code in order to entice corporations and small businesses to keep jobs from going abroad and keeping the work and money in our country. Again, sir, I appreciate your concerns and efforts but allow me to present to you why I feel that there are fallacies in your plans. We live in a capitalistic society which allows any person to earn a living however one chooses. The existence of a class system will always be present and trying to close that gap with a couple dollars per hour will hardly make a dent. By making small business owners pay a higher wage to their employees, those businesses will have to mark-up their products. This means that they could potentially lose business because customers will not be able to afford their goods and services. This also means that they will have less of a profit and not be able to afford all of the employees they have and if there is a health care plan for these employees that will have to disappear as well. I guess you fixed that with your national health care plan though. This is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. By restructuring the education system to accommodate for more job training and vocational skills the education system needs to change. The last administration developed No Child Left Behind and took funding away from programs like the Arts and pushed them towards the natural sciences but test scores and performance have not increased. This suggests that any more tampering would only have a negative effect on the already challenged public education system. A better-educated/prepared society

is definitely a step in the right direction but we cannot afford to completely abandon the traditional curriculum. It is a great American dream to work hard and rest on ones laurels at the end of a lifetime of labor but changing the retirement plan will have a negative effect. People are already concerned with their present state of earnings and paying people more will afford people a better chance to retire, however that is not what is at stake right now. The future is too unpredictable and misguiding people into thinking they can now afford to retire off of a small increase is insulting and forces people to panic about what is too far ahead. Reforming the tax code is a good proposal because it would help smaller businesses receive tax breaks but there is a hole in this argument as well. People who own businesses are considered to be in the upper class but they hardly turn a profit if they are successful. This is a small change that might help them stay afloat but will provide no significant change. Telling corporations that they cannot take jobs overseas would have an even greater impact. We are a country of excess and we like more for less. In other words, by relying on cheap wages, big business can create a bigger profit margin but if those jobs come back to America the employees would have to be paid more and the products would have to be more expensive to make up for these businesses lost margins. Believe me sir, I want more jobs in our country but how are you going to convince the public to pay more for products they can hardly afford now? Will a few extra dollars make up that difference? Besides, how are politicians going to pay for their campaigns if they start to tell big-business they do not want to be in their back pocket anymore? Lastly, a house divided cannot stand. Lambasting the other side of the house does not bode well for your cause sir. You must work in concert for the greater good. Playing the blame game is like listening to siblings argue over whose actions are worse. In-house relations need to improve in order to move this country forward and get it back on its feet. Work closely with your brethren to make this happen. It has become a Democratic ideal to involve itself in all matters concerning the public and, if these matters are left unchecked there will be a disastrous result. Despite this mentality, there must be a breaking point whereby it must be understood to let sleeping dogs lie until there is a manageable and note-worthy idea present. Clutching at straws will not fix the problems that plague this country and its economy. The end of your term is drawing closer so let us look at this more reasonably. First and foremost, changes need to take place, at least in our present state of affairs, not from the bottom up but from the top down. A national reform, across the board needs to take place. By tiptoeing around the situation, you can accomplish nothing. Big business (including insurance

companies), tax and education reform and wage increases are major steps in the right direction. You have continued to place faith in both ends of the spectrum and have come up with nothing. Big business will not respond to your pleas and the public will fail you if you put more money in their hands because inflation will cancel out the good that you are trying to do with a few extra dollars. A wage increase and more job opportunities are capital ideas but this too needs to start from the top. Our country has managed to ship a good portion of its labor across the seas. Again, it is not the governments place to tell business how to conduct itself but measures need to be taken to bring those jobs back and that starts from the top. So tax reform should be a greater focus over wage increases. On paper, wage increases look good and economists can theorize about how good this will be for the economy but these ripples will tear through the whole business structure and do more harm than good. Besides, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. You cannot just look at numbers that some economist or statistician presents to you; a bigger picture needs to be seen. In summation Mr. President, I do not envy your position. My greatest suggestions are to mend the house-divided and to work from the top and work your way down. Tax reform is not the final answer to bring business back to the states; it is business after all, there need to be more incentives. Stop promising people retirement when they cannot believe they can afford milk this week. Education needs a broader approach without compromising the basics. Finally, work with the Republicans because the constant push-pull gains no ground for the greater good. Learn to compromise some of your ideals to better compensate the people that you serve. Both sides continue to shoot down ideas that, despite their worth, could be beneficial for the people. Stop bickering over whose ideals are more sound and parading around with your philosophies, this only creates a stalemate. A wage increase will only be a temporary insufficient solution. Much like band-aid over a gunshot wound. Very Respectfully, Ms. Holly E. Tyler

Reflect on Strength of your counter-argument In many ways I liked to dissect this dispute on minimum wage, for I am someone that makes below the poverty line. I see the dilemma that is being presented, but I think that it is being taken from the wrong angle. The president is establishing the right tribulations but looking at the wrong solution. I had a difficult time trying to come up with a better solution. My most frail link in my argument was the issue on retirement. I had a challenging time trying to tie retirement with wages going up and retirement being on the same page; to me it seems to be a little irrelevant. The main point that the President is trying to make is that the American dream is not being achieved because poverty is at an all time high and the middle-class man is working themselves to the bone in order to make ends meet, and if I were to critique my counter argument that is what my focus would be on. I think that I made my points fairly clear and would be relatively painless to point out my arguments and diagram them.

References

Youtube: Obama Speech on Wage Hike: http://youtu.be/iyZF27jbMlc

Obama says wage and income gap eroding American dream: CNN Senior White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar and CNN White House Producer Kevin Liptak 12/04/2013: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/04/obama-to-push-for-minimum-wage-hike-ineconomy-remarks/ Obama Gets Behind Democrats' $10.10 Minimum Wage Proposal, Dave Jamieson,
11/07/2013: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/obama-minimum-

wage_n_4235965.html

A Plan to Simplify the Tax Code for Businesses and Give Working Families a Better Deal, Megan Slack 2013: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/07/30/plan-simplify-taxcode-businesses-and-give-working-families-better-deal