Rhetorical Precis
Paul Krugman in his column, Deficits Matter Again, criticizes the G.O.P. on their nonchalant attitude towards increasing budget deficits now that they actually matter and are no longer harmless. Krugman supports his observations by first explaining what a deficit is and why it even matters to the growth of the economy. He then describes the G.O.P.’s previous stance against budget deficit while President Obama was in office and the economy that influenced their opinions. Lastly, the author then counters why the government’s previous actions are no longer applicable towards today's economy since the conditions are totally different. Krugman’s purpose was to expose the G.O.P.’s selfish intentions of slashing taxes for the wealthy so that they could no longer hide behind false promise aimed towards the working class. The author writes in a satirical but pragmatic tone for the current G.O.P. This work is significant because it reveals the state of the transitioning administration to the public.
Rhetorical Analysis of Tone
Within his column, Deficits Matter Again, Paul Krugman effectively uses tone in order to convince members of the working class that the GOP never cared for them and now they've not even pretending to try. Krugman exploits the GOP’s ambivalent attitude towards the nation’s budget deficit to reveal their careless intentions towards anyone within the nation outside of themselves. He bounces between dramatic words such as apocalyptic, that is normally associated with zombies to create a humorous tone over a serious subject and maintains the nonchalant attitude throughout casual phrases like “around the corner” and “no problem”. By doing this he successfully imitates their unconcerned attitude through his tone in a satirical but pragmatic sense, making fun at their inability to care about budget deficits now that they actually matter.