Jessica: The budget surplus should

Answer choices

1. A

   Unsupported Disagreement Relative vs. Absolute14% picked this

   Using the budget surplus to increase government payments to those who are unemployed is putting the

   We can probably infer that Jessica would agree with this, but can we infer that Marcie would say, "using surplus money to give more assistance to the unemployed is not putting this money to a good use"? No, we know she thinks that using it for a public works project would be better, but that doesn't mean that the worse option (giving it to unemployed) is a bad option. That would be using relative language in the stimulus to support absolute language in the answer.

   14%
2. B

   Out of Scope1% picked this

   The public deserves to have jobs created when there are many people

   Out of Scope: public deserves Both Probably Agree This language does center around where surplus money should / shouldn't be spent. It's about what the public does / doesn't deserve, which neither of them talked about. To the extent that their ideas are "give money to the unemployed vs. create jobs (for the unemployed)", it seems like they're both sympathetic towards the idea of helping the unemployed.

   1%
3. C

   Too Strong: usually13% picked this

   When there is a choice between increasing payments to the unemployed and funding a public works project, the

   Neither person's statements provide support for this claim about how money should usually be spent. They're only speaking to this current budget surplus.

   13%
4. D

   Unsupported Disagreement0% picked this

   Creating jobs through a public works project will ultimately benefit

   This isn't very tempting because the language is about whether or not new jobs would benefit the public, whereas we're looking for where budget surplus money should / shouldn't be spent. Marcie would probably agree with this answer, but can we support that Jessica thinks, "Creating jobs through a public works project will not ultimately benefit the public"? No, she says nothing about public works and so we have no support that she would be this pessimistic about its chances of benefiting the public.

   0%
5. E

   Correct71% picked this

   There is a better way to use the budget surplus than increasing government payments to

   Why this is right

   Marcie would agree; she says a better way would be for a public works project that would create jobs. Jessica would disagree; she says the only way the surplus money should be used is increasing payments to the unemployed. (This answer gives Person 2's position, while using the language mostly from Person 1)

   Skill tested: Agree/Disagree · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   71%