Contrary to the statements of labor leaders

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Contrary to the statements of labor leaders, the central economic problem facing America today is not the distribution of wealth. It is productivity. With the productivity of U.S. industry stagnant, or even declining slightly, the economic pie is no longer growing. Labor leaders, of course, point to what they consider an unfair distribution of the slices of pie to justify their demands for further increases in wages and benefits. And in the past, when the pie was still growing, management could afford to acquiesce. No longer. Until productivity resumes its growth, there can be no justification for further increases in the compensation of workers.
Which of the following statements by a labor leader focuses on the logical weakness in the argument above?
(A) Although the economic pie is no longer growing, the portion of the pie allocated to American workers remains unjustly small.
(B) If management fails to accommodate the demands of workers, labor leaders will be forced to call strikes that will cripple the operation of industry.
(C) Although productivity is stagnant, the U.S. population is growing, so that the absolute size of the economic pie continues to grow as well.
(D) As a labor leader, I can be concerned only with the needs of working people, not with the problems faced by management
(E) The stagnation of U.S. industry has been caused largely by factors-such as foreign competition-beyond the control of American workers.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by dj_vinayak » Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:10 am
Oa is A although I prefer C

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by kvcpk » Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:18 am
IMO A.

Premises:
the central economic problem facing America today is not the distribution of wealth. It is productivity.
the economic pie is no longer growing.
Labor leaders point to what they consider an unfair distribution of the slices of pie to justify their demands for further increases in wages and benefits.
when the pie was still growing, management could afford to acquiesce. No longer.
Until productivity resumes its growth, there can be no justification for further increases in the compensation of workers.

We require a statement by a labor leader focusing on the logical weakness in the argument.

From the argument, we can see that all that labor leaders talked about was about the pie, wages. So we need to find a statement that logically correlates these two. Our task is to find an answer that would justify that the working labor are not receiving what they should.

(B) If management fails to accommodate the demands of workers, labor leaders will be forced to call strikes that will cripple the operation of industry.

There is no mentioning of "Strikes" in the argument. This choice is irrelevant to the argument.

(C) Although productivity is stagnant, the U.S. population is growing, so that the absolute size of the economic pie continues to grow as well.

Labor leaders are not concerned about the absolute size of the economic pie. All they are bothered about is the size of their slice of the pie.

(D) As a labor leader, I can be concerned only with the needs of working people, not with the problems faced by management

This is making a statement in itself but not trying to logically attack the argument. Once again nothing is mentioned about the wages or pie.

(E) The stagnation of U.S. industry has been caused largely by factors-such as foreign competition-beyond the control of American workers.

This is introducing another cause for US economic stagnation which is irrelevant to the argument. Once again, this doesn't address the labor leader's main point.

(A) Although the economic pie is no longer growing, the portion of the pie allocated to American workers remains unjustly small.

This option correctly relates to the argument and logically explains the main point of the labor leader.

pick A.

Hope this helps!!

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by dj_vinayak » Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:22 am
kvcpk wrote:IMO A.

Premises:
the central economic problem facing America today is not the distribution of wealth. It is productivity.
the economic pie is no longer growing.
Labor leaders point to what they consider an unfair distribution of the slices of pie to justify their demands for further increases in wages and benefits.
when the pie was still growing, management could afford to acquiesce. No longer.
Until productivity resumes its growth, there can be no justification for further increases in the compensation of workers.

We require a statement by a labor leader focusing on the logical weakness in the argument.

From the argument, we can see that all that labor leaders talked about was about the pie, wages. So we need to find a statement that logically correlates these two. Our task is to find an answer that would justify that the working labor are not receiving what they should.

(B) If management fails to accommodate the demands of workers, labor leaders will be forced to call strikes that will cripple the operation of industry.

There is no mentioning of "Strikes" in the argument. This choice is irrelevant to the argument.

(C) Although productivity is stagnant, the U.S. population is growing, so that the absolute size of the economic pie continues to grow as well.

Labor leaders are not concerned about the absolute size of the economic pie. All they are bothered about is the size of their slice of the pie.

(D) As a labor leader, I can be concerned only with the needs of working people, not with the problems faced by management

This is making a statement in itself but not trying to logically attack the argument. Once again nothing is mentioned about the wages or pie.

(E) The stagnation of U.S. industry has been caused largely by factors-such as foreign competition-beyond the control of American workers.

This is introducing another cause for US economic stagnation which is irrelevant to the argument. Once again, this doesn't address the labor leader's main point.

(A) Although the economic pie is no longer growing, the portion of the pie allocated to American workers remains unjustly small.

This option correctly relates to the argument and logically explains the main point of the labor leader.

pick A.

Hope this helps!!


thank you it does help.never thought of it this way...i guess i need to attack the options a bit more

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by hardik.jadeja » Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:16 pm
dj_vinayak wrote:Oa is A although I prefer C
Read this:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/wealth-distr ... tml#131647