The wholesale cost of asbestos, used in the manufacture of fire-retardant asbestos shorts, has seen a significant reduction in the past year, unlike that of its substitute, raw wire mesh. Thus, while asbestos shorts stores' retail prices have yet to fall, they will certainly do so eventually.
Question
Which of the following, if true, most weakens this argument?
Choices
A: The weaving costs for asbestos cloth rose in the past year.
B: The gross wholesale price for untreated asbestos is usually more than that of the same volume of untreated wire mesh.
C: The average store specializing in retail sale of asbestos shorts has seen its operating costs remain unchanged in the past year.
D: Retail price changes always lag behind wholesale price changes.
E: Asbestos manufacturing costs increased in the past year.
OA: A
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hja379
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Google "GMAT Pill"<--really helpful, worth checking out--especially for RC passages.
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e-gmat SC: Never thought it would be fun learning SC.
India School Fund: Education through Innovation - A HBS start-up.
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bubbliiiiiiii
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hja379 wrote:The wholesale cost of asbestos, used in the manufacture of fire-retardant asbestos shorts, has seen a significant reduction in the past year, unlike that of its substitute, raw wire mesh. Thus, while asbestos shorts stores' retail prices have yet to fall, they will certainly do so eventually.
Question
Which of the following, if true, most weakens this argument?
Assumption: The authors only considers the cost of raw material i.e., asbestos which could affect the price of end products and ignores the costs associated in manufacture of the fire-retardant asbestos shorts
My analysis:
As pointed by navami, options A and E looks like both are strong contenders.
I was struck between them for a while but after some thought giving as to why the 'correct one' has to be better than the 'wrong one' I chose A.
Choice E talks about the costs associated with manufacturing of asbestos. Since we are concerned with manufacturing costs of fire-retardant asbestos shorts and not asbestos this appeared out of scope to me.
Regards,
Pranay
Pranay
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hja379
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I wasn't very happy with the answer choice at first. But on retrospection - A is the right choice. Let me rephrase, A is not the right choice, but the best one left after elimination. Most of us got stumped between A and E. E says, the cost of manufacturing for asbestos has increased, but something else changed along the way, that caused the whole sale price of asbestos to fall. For example, it could that they discovered a new mine which caused the price of the raw material to fall. Hence E must be eliminated, leaving A as the only choice left.
Google "GMAT Pill"<--really helpful, worth checking out--especially for RC passages.
e-gmat SC: Never thought it would be fun learning SC.
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kevincanspain
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A is indeed the best choice and does effectively weaken the argument. The argument makes the assumption that the other costs involved in manufacturing and retailing the shorts have not risen by an equal amount, and A calls into question that assumption.
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"weaving costs for asbestos cloth"
On what grounds we say asbestos cloth is used in manufacturing asbestos shorts(i dont work in asbestos shorts manufacturing company
).I say the cloth is absolutely irrelevant to me.
Manufacturing of asbestos looks more reasonable to the present context.
Answer should be E
On what grounds we say asbestos cloth is used in manufacturing asbestos shorts(i dont work in asbestos shorts manufacturing company
).I say the cloth is absolutely irrelevant to me.Manufacturing of asbestos looks more reasonable to the present context.
Answer should be E
