Critical Reasoning

Jim: The United States Mint has recently announced that it costs more to manufacture a penny or a nickel than the face value of each coin. In addition, there are very few items that can be purchased for a nickel, and virtually none that can be purchased for a penny. Since both the penny and the nickel no longer provide a necessary function in today's economy, I propose that the government eliminate them and declare the base unit of U.S. currency to be the dime.

Mary: Don't be silly. This would mean that all prices would round up to the nearest dime-nobody would want that. Congress would never approve, much less consider, such an unpopular measure.

In her response to Jim, Mary does all of the following EXCEPT
A. makes an assumption about the possible negative consequences of Jim's proposal
B. implies that a particular regulatory path is necessary to implement Jim's proposal
C. provides a reason why Jim's proposal would be difficult to implement, regardless of its potential benefits
D. assumes that Congress would consider the monetary benefits less important than public opinion of the proposal
E. attempts to undermine a premise upon which Jim bases his proposal

OA : E

Can someone please explain!

IMO - E

The only way of doing this is to go through the list. We are looking for somehting that Mary DOES NOT do:

A - Mary makes an assumption that all prices would round up and Congress wouldn't approve - we can rule this out
B - Mary implies that Congress would need to approve this in order for it to pass - we can rule this out
C - Mary provides a reason of its implementation difficulty by saying that Congress would never approve - we can rule this out
D - Mary assumes that Congress would consider the monetary benefits less important than public opinion - we can rule this out
E - Mary doesn't attempt to undermine Jim's premise. Jim's premise is that the US is spending more money to mint pennies and nickels than they are worth, so they should stop minting them. Nothing in Mary's argument refutes Jim's claim that it is a waste of money to mint pennies and nickels.

How do we eliminate B?

There is no implying of a "regulatory path" here. Or do we need to assume that Congress is the "regulatory path" here?

Agreed that E is the stronger candidate here. Definitely.

E as all other options are valid. No other reason to 'single it' down.

badpoem wrote:How do we eliminate B?

There is no implying of a "regulatory path" here. Or do we need to assume that Congress is the "regulatory path" here?

Agreed that E is the stronger candidate here. Definitely.

I definitely agree that B is the weakest of the 4 things Mary does (A,C, and D are very easy to eliminate). But I still think you can eliminate it.

By saying "Congress would never approve...such an unpopular measure", Mary is implying that in order for this measure to be passed, Congress must approve it. This constitutes a regulatory path that would be necessary to implement Jim's proposal, and it allows us to eliminate B.

CappyAA wrote:

badpoem wrote:How do we eliminate B?

There is no implying of a "regulatory path" here. Or do we need to assume that Congress is the "regulatory path" here?

Agreed that E is the stronger candidate here. Definitely.

I definitely agree that B is the weakest of the 4 things Mary does (A,C, and D are very easy to eliminate). But I still think you can eliminate it.

By saying "Congress would never approve...such an unpopular measure", Mary is implying that in order for this measure to be passed, Congress must approve it. This constitutes a regulatory path that would be necessary to implement Jim's proposal, and it allows us to eliminate B.

Exactly.