can someone help to indentify fallacies and rhetorical devices in this article?
The government's 2008 banking bailout is a fraud perpetrated on the American people. The government has abandoned sound money practices in favor of allowing the Federal Reserve—a banking cartel—to dictate fiscal policy. These unscrupulous bankers take advantage of profits when the economy is good and pass the burden onto the taxpayers when the economy turns bad. The government should do away with the Federal Reserve and return the nation to a banking system based on hard assets if America is to survive the current financial crisis.
At the time of this writing [in September 2008], the U.S. House and Senate are poised to pass a $700 billion bailout to Wall Street. At the behest of President George W. Bush, the U.S. taxpayers are going to be on the hook for what can only be referred to as the biggest fraud in U.S. history.
Virtually our entire financial system is based on an illusion. We spend more than we earn, we consume more than we produce, we borrow more than we save, and we cling to the fantasy that this can go on forever. The glue that holds this crumbling scheme together is a fiat currency known as the Federal Reserve Note, which was created out of thin air by an international banking cartel called the Federal Reserve.
According to Congressman Ron Paul [of Texas], in the last three years, the Federal Reserve [the Fed] has created over $4 trillion in new money. The result of all this "money-out-of-thin-air" fraud is never-ending inflation. And the more prices rise, the more the dollar collapses. Folks, this is not sustainable.
The Evils of the Banking Cartel
Already, Bear Stearns was awarded a $29 billion bailout, followed quickly by the bailout of Freddie and Fannie1 that will cost the taxpayers up to $200 billion. Then the Fed announced the bailout of AIG [American International Group, Inc.] to the tune of $85 billion. Mind you, AIG is an enormous global entity with assets totaling more than $1.1 trillion. Moreover, the Feds agreed to pump $180 billion into global money markets. And the Treasury Department promised $50 billion to insure the holdings of money market mutual funds for a year. Now, taxpayers are being asked to provide $700 billion to Wall Street. (I hope readers are aware that, not only will American banks be bailed out, but foreign banks will also be bailed out. Then again, at least half of the Federal Reserve is comprised of foreign banks, anyway.) In other words, the Federal Reserve is preparing to spend upwards of $1 trillion or more. Remember again, this is fiat money, meaning it is money printed out of thin air.
All of this began when the U.S. Congress abrogated its responsibility to maintain sound money principles on behalf of the American people (as required by the Constitution) and created the Federal Reserve. This took place in 1913. The President was Woodrow Wilson. (I strongly encourage readers to buy G. Edward Griffin's book, The Creature from Jekyll Island.) Since then, the U.S. economy has suffered through one Great Depression and several recessions—all of which have been orchestrated by this international banking cartel. Now, we are facing total economic collapse.
No matter how bad it gets on Main Street, the banksters on Wall Street will still have the best of it.
But don't worry: the international bankers will lose nothing—not even their bonuses. They will maintain their mansions, yachts, private jets, and Swiss bank accounts. No matter how bad it gets on Main Street, the banksters on Wall Street will still have the best of it—President Bush and the Congress will make sure of that. This is one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on.
The Founding Fathers Sounded the Warning
America's founders were rightfully skeptical of granting too much power to bankers. Thomas Jefferson said, "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Jefferson also believed that "banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
Daniel Webster [one of America's Founding Fathers] warned, "Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effectual than that which deludes them with paper money."
Webster also said, "We are in danger of being overwhelmed with irredeemable paper, mere paper, representing not gold nor silver; no, Sir, representing nothing but broken promises, bad faith, bankrupt corporations, cheated creditors, and a ruined people."
Our first and greatest President George Washington said, "Paper money has had the effect in your State [Rhode Island] that it ever will have, to ruin commerce—oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice."
Send the Bankers to Jail
If George W. Bush, [2008 presidential candidate] John McCain, or [2008 presidential candidate] Barack Obama had any honesty and integrity, they would approach the current banking malady in much the same way that President Andrew Jackson did. In discussing the Bank Renewal bill with a delegation of bankers in 1832, Jackson said, "Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out."
The only way to fix this economic mess that the international bankers have created is to return America to sound money principles.
What President Andrew Jackson said to the bankers in 1832 is exactly what an American President should say to these criminal international bankers today. But what George Bush, John McCain, and Barack Obama want to do is provide amnesty for the international bankers, just as they want to provide amnesty for illegal aliens. I say, no amnesty for Wall Street, and no amnesty for illegal aliens, either. Instead of sending these banksters on extended vacations to the Bahamas with millions of taxpayer dollars in their pockets, we should be sending them straight to jail!
The only way to fix this economic mess that the international bankers have created is to return America to sound money principles, as prescribed in the U.S. Constitution. This means dismantling the Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service, overturning the 16th Amendment and the personal income tax, and returning the American monetary system to hard assets: gold and silver. Anything short of this will only delay and worsen the inevitable collapse that has already begun
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/fallacies.html
Study this webpage, including the list of fallacies on the right.
Let us know what you discover.
To identify fallacies and rhetorical devices in this article, you can follow these steps:
1. Read the article carefully, paying attention to the arguments and claims being made.
2. Look for any reasoning or evidence that seems flawed or misleading.
3. Identify any logical fallacies that are being used. Fallacies are errors in reasoning that can undermine the validity of an argument.
4. Look for any rhetorical devices being used to persuade or manipulate the reader. Rhetorical devices are techniques used to enhance the effectiveness of communication.
Below are some examples of fallacies and rhetorical devices that can be found in the article:
Fallacies:
1. False dilemma: The author presents a false choice between returning to a banking system based on hard assets and the current financial crisis.
2. Ad hominem: The author attacks the credibility and integrity of the government, Federal Reserve, and bankers without providing substantive evidence.
3. Hasty generalization: The author generalizes the actions of a few banks to the entire banking system and portrays them negatively.
Rhetorical devices:
1. Loaded language: The author uses emotive language such as "fraud," "unscrupulous bankers," and "evil banking cartel" to paint a negative picture.
2. Appeal to authority: The author references Congressman Ron Paul and quotes America's Founding Fathers to lend credibility to their argument.
3. Hyperbole: The author presents extreme statements, such as "international bankers will lose nothing" and "total economic collapse," to create a sense of urgency or alarm.
It's important to note that the identification of fallacies and rhetorical devices requires interpretation and critical thinking. Different readers may identify different fallacies or rhetorical devices in the same text.