Several years ago, most of one country's large banks failed and were taken over by a government agency. ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ █████ ████████
The author concludes that the agency is unlikely to strengthen the banking system through its attempt to sell the banks it took over. This is based on the fact that if the former owners of the banks buy them back, the banking system won’t be strengthened.
We know that if the former owners of the banks buy them back, the banking system won’t be strengthened. We’re trying to conclude that the banking system won’t be strengthened by the sale of the banks. What’s missing is the trigger for the premise — we want to know that the former owners of the banks will buy them back.
The conclusion of the argument ██ ████████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ███ ████████
the agency may ██ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████
(A) doesn’t establish that the former owners will buy the banks back. So (A) doesn’t prove that the banking system won’t be strengthened from the sale. Don’t assume that if some banks can’t be sold, that the banking system isn’t strengthened. You don’t know that from the premises.
a single company █████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████
(B) doesn’t establish that the former owners will buy the banks back.
the country's overall ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████ █████ ██████
(C) doesn’t establish that the former owners will buy the banks back.
the banks sold ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ███ ████ ████
(D) doesn’t establish that the former owners will buy the banks back.
all of the ███████ ███ ███ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████
(E) establishes that the former owners will buy the banks back. If all bidders (potential buyers) for the banks are former owners, then once the banks are sold, they must go to former owners. This triggers the sufficient condition of the premise (former owners buy banks back), which allows us to conclude that the banking system will not be strengthened.
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