Logical Reasoning

PT145 · S4 · Q10 Columnist: Some people argue that

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Columnist: Some people argue that the government should not take over failing private-sector banks because the government does not know how to manage financial institutions.

Statements

Some say, .

Pivot (however) Were they to take over a failing bank, the government wouldn't be managing day-to-day operations, just selecting people to be the bank's new senior management.

Analogy We're cool with politicians selecting people to manage the military, even though most politicians don't know who to manage the military, and that's at least as big a responsibility.

Evaluate

The question stem indicates that we're doing some sort of "soft" Must Be False thing. Some answer will go against what we read; the paragraph will give us reason to reject that answer.

On Must Be False, the correct answer usually goes against a conditional idea or goes against some inference we can derive by combining ideas.

There isn't any conditional logic in this paragraph, but there is a Pivot word (however) creating tension. Usually, when there's a pivot word, the inference we can derive comes from reconciling what comes after the pivot with what came before.

Here, before the pivot, we had people saying the government shouldn't take over failing banks. After the pivot. we get the author seemingly saying,

Goal

Look for anything that seems to actively go against what the paragraph was saying, possibly something like the original position that the author is rejecting.

10.

The columnist's statements, if true, provide reason for rejecting which one of the following?

  1. Commanding a branch of the

    Compatible

    We don't have anything in this paragraph that suggests that running bank requires at least as much knowledge as commanding a branch of the military. The concept of how much knowledge is required is actually out of scope.

    7% picked this

  2. Politicians do an adequate job

    Compatible

    This fits well with the author's point of view. She is saying, "The government is fine when it comes to appointing people to run the military, so they'd potentially be fine when it comes to appointing people to run a failing bank that's been taken over.

    3% picked this

  3. Politicians are not capable of

    Compatible

    The author seems to implicitly agree with "some people" that we would have reason to be concerned about the government taking over a failing bank if it meant that they had to handle the day-to-day operations. She is saying, "The reason it's cool for the government to take over failing banks is that they won't have to manage day-to-day; they only have to appoint new management, which they're qualified to do."

    5% picked this

  4. Correct

    Banks that are owned by

    Why this is right

    This sounds like an assumption of "some people" in the 1st sentence, and the author provides reasons to reject that assumption. The author points out by analogy that we entrust the government to well-manage the military, which is at least as great a responsibility. Even though the government doesn't have experience managing the military or managing financial institutions, the government is capable of being entrusted with the job of appointing people who are capable of well-managing a bank (or the military). So it would be fine for the government to take over (claim ownership over) a failing private bank, because the government would just need to select the bank's senior management, who would then be capable of seeing that the bank is well-managed. To reject this answer, we just have to support the idea that "a bank owned by the government could be well-managed.

    Skill tested: Must be False · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    82% picked this

  5. The government should not take

    Unmentioned

    This passage was only about whether it's okay for the government to take over a failing private bank. It never gets into financially sound banks. To reject this answer, we would need the paragraph to be supporting the idea that "the government should take over financially sound private-sector banks."

    2% picked this

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