Self-study
Credit card companies justify charging cardholders additional fees for late payments by asserting the principle that those who expose other individuals, companies, or institutions to financial risk should pay for that risk, and by pointing out that late-paying cardholders present a greater risk of default than other cardholders. ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████████████
Summary
The principle:
People who expose others individual, companies, or institutions to financial risk should pay for that risk.
Find or Complete the Application
Let’s find an example of people who expose others to financial risk paying more for that risk.
25.
The principle invoked by the ██████ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████
a
School authorities should ███ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ █ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████
This involves school authorities using student activity funds to pay for damage. But if we want to follow the principle, the students who caused the damage should pay for that damage.
b
Insurance companies should ██████ ██████ █████████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███████
Sports car drivers expose insurance companies to financial risk, because they are more likely to require the companies to pay out money on insurance claims. So, sports car drivers should have to pay more to get insurance. (B) is an example of people who expose others to financial risk having to pay more for that risk.
c
Libraries should charge ████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ███ █████████████ ███████ █████████████ ██ █████ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ██████
(C) doesn’t involve people exposing others to financial risk. People who keep books out may risk “inconvenience” to other library users, but that’s not exposing them to financial risk. (And yes, “financial risk” matters, because that’s what the principle in the stimulus says. We’re asked to invoke that specific principle. This is not a case where we’re trying to find some abstract parallel principle and apply that. We’re specifically applying the principle invoked by the credit companies, and that principle involves financial risk.)
d
Cities should impose ████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███████████████ ████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██████████
(D) doesn’t describe people who litter as exposing others to financial risk. (And yes, “financial risk” matters, because that’s what the principle in the stimulus says. We’re asked to invoke that specific principle. This is not a case where we’re trying to find some abstract parallel principle and apply that. We’re specifically applying the principle invoked by the credit companies, and that principle involves financial risk.)
e
Municipalities should use ███ █████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ██ ████████████ ███████████
It’s not clear that (E) involves financial risk. In any case, (E) advocates using tax money to pay for maintaining roads. But the principle would have the people who expose others to financial risk be the ones to pay for maintaining roads.