Self-study
Economist: Our Support economy's weakness is the direct result of consumers' continued reluctance to spend, which in turn Support is caused by factors such as high-priced goods and services. ████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ███ █ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ████████
Summary
A weak economy is caused by consumers not spending. Consumer aren’t spending because prices are high and incomes are low. Therefore, lowering income taxes would improve the economy.
Notable Assumptions
The argument presents a problem, explains why the problem is occurring, and then offers a solution. It does not, however, explain why the solution of lowering income taxes would actually do anything to help with the problem - there is no direct link within the argument. There is a missing assumption that lower income taxes would either address the sources of the problem or address the problem directly.
19.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████
a
Increasing consumer spending ████ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████
The conclusion is about how lower income tax would lead to increased consumer spending. Assumptions about what is true if consumer spending does eventually increase don’t help get to that conclusion.
b
If consumer spending ██████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ █████████
The conclusion is about how lower income tax would lead to increased consumer spending. What would happen to income if spending does increase doesn’t help get to that conclusion.
c
If income taxes ███ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ████████
The conclusion is focused on what good could happen if income taxes are lowered - possible negative consequences of not lowering them don’t help get to the claim that lowering them would have positive consequences.
d
Consumers will be ████ █████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ███ ████████
This provides the missing link between lowering income taxes and increasing spending. Because individuals would spend more, lowering income taxes can help the economy. If (D) were negated, then there would be no connection between the problem and the proposed solution.
e
Lowering income taxes ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████████
The argument does not need to make any assumptions about government spending - the focus is only on the connection between lowered income tax and increased spending, and not on what potential spending routes a government could take in different situations.