The city council in a small city of 70,000 in an agriculturally productive area in one of the most wealthiest
states in the world has recently decided to take its economic future into its own hands. Although your city is
at the center of one of the most productive areas in the world, your city also has the highest rates of poverty
and unemployment per capita in the nation. The city council is deciding between raising or lowering taxes on
the wealthiest two percent of citizens and regulating or deregulating the largest corporate businesses or a
combination of both. As an employee of the city, the council has asked you to present an argument for one of
the above approaches, recognizing in your presentation the flaws of both capitalism and socialism. If you
choose a combination, you must explain the balance between the two. The council expects you to qualify
your argument with a mixture of evidence that is historical, is derived from primary sources, and is
contemporary in scope.
