NPR: No Deal on 'Fiscal Cliff' Without Tax Increase on Rich, Geithner Says

This article focuses on the United States' Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, and his perspective toward the debate about what to do with the expiration of some major tax cuts and budget plans known as the "Fiscal Cliff". There are two main arguments about the situation: letting the planned tax increases and budget cuts go through into 2013, which will slow U.S. growth but help the deficit; or canceling some of the tax increases, which will allow the debt to continue to rise. Geithner supports President Obama's plan to increase taxes and cut spending by moving the money around to different programs; House Speaker John Boehner rejects this offer as a "non-serious proposal." It concludes with a cliffhanger (no pun intended), stating Geithner's words, "they're going to have to figure out the politics on what to do next."

The author of this article, Krishnadev Calamur, is an author and editor at NPR, one of the nation's largest public radio companies. The context of this article is around the current issue that could turn into a crisis, which leads many Americans to be concerned. Calamur's purpose is to inform his audience of Americans further about the Fiscal Cliff by showing an undervalued but credible perspective.
By far the most effective rhetorical element that Calamur used was the unbiased, objective tone used in the piece. This attracts both sides of the political spectrum to read the article and assess Geither's perspective. In my opinion, Calamur used this strategy very successfully to accomplish his goal because there are very few articles nowadays that stay away from polarizing their audience and labeling themselves as a conservative or liberal writer.