Analysis Of A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was an Irish author who was famous for many pieces. One of which is “A Modest Proposal,” an essay written in 1729. This was a time that Ireland was in a lot of trouble economically and Jonathan Swift wrote “A Modest Proposal” to make fun of the situation.

The poor in Ireland were in a terrible situation, they could not sustain themselves with the state the economy was in, as well as other issues that faced them. England was in control of Ireland at this time and were pushing legislation that hurt Ireland. Ireland was competition to England, therefore the policies put onto Ireland would be made to hurt Ireland. The Navigation Act forced all goods from English colonies to be shipped by English ships, with English crews, and from English ports. The Cattle Acts outlawed the importation of Irish cattle, sheep, pigs, and related processed items to England, Ireland also could not export to foreign markets because of the Navigation Act. The result was Ireland not having an important part of their economy, ruining many people’s lives, which is reiterated by the Columbia University Press, “The legislation had an unfavorable effect on the Channel Islands, Scotland (before the Act of Union of 1707), and especially Ireland, by excluding them from a preferential

In recent years the United States has acquired debt as many have said is unsustainable, such as in a CBO report that states, “If current laws remained generally unchanged, federal debt held by the public would exceed 100 percent of GDP by 2040 and continue on an upward path relative to the size of the economy—a trend that could not be sustained indefinitely.” The United States needs to stop spending as much money as they do, but whenever someone suggests spending less money they shoot it down as if they want the country to fail. There are clear similarities between what the United States government is doing to the the economy and what England did to