Minimum Wage Argument #1

1. What genre of argument is this? How do the conventions of that genre help determine the depth, complexity, and even appearance of the argument? The New York Times article, The minimum wage may have losers, falls into the genre of articles in public affairs magazines. An article from this genre tells the reader that the subject not only reflects the views of the magazine but also covers a wide range of opinions about the same argument.
2. Who is the author? What are the author’s credentials and what is his or her investment in the issue?  The article was written by Noam Scheiber. He earned his degree in mathematics from Tulane University and his masters in economics from Oxford University. He has held various jobs at notable press companies, such as the New Republic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and New York magazine. (Reference: http://www.cnbc.com/noam-scheiber/). His investment on the issue is to educate people on the negative effects of raising the minimum wage on a state-wide range.
3. What audience is he or she writing for?  Scheiber is writing to an audience mostly consisting of middle-upper class conservatives who want to understand why an increase in minimum wage is a bad idea, most likely so they can start developing their own opinions.
4. What motivating occasion prompted the writing?  This article was inspired by the legislation that was put into effect in New York and California that would gradually increase the minimum wage to $15/hour.
5. What is the author’s purpose?  Scheiber’s purpose is near the middle of the continuum of truth-seeking to persuasion, because he is attempting to find the best solution to the problem, while at the same time he disapproves of the new legislation and he wants others to think that way as well.
6. What information about the publication helps explain the writer’s perspective or the structure and style of the argument?  Scheiber relies heavily on the data and opinions of John Horton of New York University and Arindrajit Dube of the University of Massachusetts. Horton used an online website that offers private jobs to test what would happen if employers using the website were forced to pay a higher minimum wage. The result was either that employers were hiring more productive employees to do the same amount of work in a shorter period of time, so that they amount of payment might equal out, or that the employers would no longer be able to pay for employees. He used this example in his argument to show that if the minimum wage is increased, especially nationwide, there would be less jobs for unskilled laborers, businesses would close as a result of bankruptcy, and the middle-class wages would go up to maintain a higher salary than the new minimum wage.

Reference:

<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/business/economy/national-minimum-wage-.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FMinimum%20Wage&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0>

Minimum Wage Argument $2

1. What genre of argument is this? How do the conventions of that genre help determine the depth, complexity, and even appearance of the argument?  The publication, The impact of raising the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020 on workers, businesses, and the economy, is from the advocacy website, Economic Policy Institute (EPI). This genre entails that the publications will clearly epitomize the owner of the website, and that its sole purpose is to promote their opinions to their audience.
2. Who is the author? What are the author’s credentials and what is his or her investment in the issue?  The author is David Cooper, the Senior Economic Analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. His investment on the issue was, in this case, to speak at a Democratic caucus to deliver his argument for increasing the minimum wage.
3. What audience is he or she writing for?  His audience is for low-middle class democrats.
4. What motivating occasion prompted the writing?  Cooper was motivated to present his findings at the Democratic caucus as a result of the protests of minimum wage earners across the country and the upcoming 2016 election.
5. What is the author’s purpose?  Cooper’s purpose is to educate low-middle class people on the positive economic effects of increasing the national minimum wage.
6. What information about the publication helps explain the writer’s perspective or the structure and style of the argument?  The first four endnotes were from the EPI website itself, and the other three were from economic studies of the minimum wage. Sometimes Cooper uses actual data from those sources, but other times he is simply saying the “research has shown” line said by someone without enough data.

Reference:

<http://www.epi.org/publication/the-impact-of-raising-the-federal-minimum-wage-to-12-by-2020-on-workers-businesses-and-the-economy-testimony-before-the-u-s-house-committee-on-education-and-the-workforce-member-forum/>