Helium

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Helium

by crackgmat007 » Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:02 am
Lawmaker: Raising taxes is not the only means of reducing government
debt. The government’s stockpile of helium is worth 25 percent more,
at current market prices, than the debt accumulated in acquiring and
storing it. Therefore, by selling the helium, the government can not
only pay off that debt but reduce its overall debt as well.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The government has no current need for helium.
B. Twenty-five percent of the debt the government has accumulated in
Stockpiling helium is not an insignificant portion of the government’s
Total debt.
C. It is not in the lawmaker’s interest to advocate raising taxes as a
Means of reducing government debt.
D. Attempts to sell the government’s helium will not depress the market
Price of helium by more than 25 percent.
E. The government will not incur any costs in closing its facilities for
stockpiling helium.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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Re: Helium

by ankit1383 » Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:31 am
crackgmat007 wrote: Therefore, by selling the helium, the government can not only pay off that debt but reduce its overall debt as well.Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

D. Attempts to sell the government’s helium will not depress the market
Price of helium by more than 25 percent.
If option D is negated then government will not be able to reduce it overall debt and conclusion will fall apart.

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by niraj_a » Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:03 am
D looks pretty good.

B comes close but the proportion of the gain has no bearing on whether the debt gets reduced or not, which is the focus.

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by urs_maverick » Sat Aug 15, 2009 9:55 am
it was between D and E

IMO D

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Re: Helium

by perfectstranger » Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:41 am
crackgmat007 wrote:Lawmaker: The government’s stockpile of helium is worth 25 percent more,
at current market prices, than the debt accumulated in acquiring and
storing it. Therefore, by selling the helium, the government can not
only pay off that debt but reduce its overall debt as well.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?


D. Attempts to sell the government’s helium will not depress the market
Price of helium by more than 25 percent.
If the price is 25 % above market price then 25 % decrease will not affect its debt. Assume X = 1000 m^3 (amount of helium)
Y= 1.00 $ per m ^ 3 ( goverment buying price )

X. Y =1000 $ total debt to buy helium
If Y is now 1.25 X.Y=1250 what if it is lessen until 1000 $ goverment will not lose anything if it is 1.25 $ per m ^ 3 it can also pay its overall debt.
Please do not post answers visibly . Please hide them or post them later after the discussion.

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by kris77 » Sun May 15, 2016 3:28 pm
I would go with option D as the correct option