Critical Reasoning

Per a recent survey carried out in Rambo City, capital of Papula country, an average middle-aged person drives his or her car for two thousand miles in a year and 99% of these people own a gasoline-run car. In addition, the survey suggested that if offered an economical option to switch to electric cars, most of these people would change their gasoline-run cars. The government of Papula is impressed with the environmental considerations shown by the citizens of Papula and is planning to implement a plan that would allow all the current owners of gasoline-run cars to switch to electric cars at a minimal cost.

Which of the following statements casts the most doubt on the ability of the plan to meet its required objective of significantly reducing air pollution in Papula in the next 5 years?

A. Though some of the citizens are concerned about the negative environmental impact of air pollution, they will not spend any extra money to protect the environment.
B. The budget deficit of the government of Papula is already at alarming levels, and any further increase in the deficit could lead to the bankruptcy of the country.
C. Since Papula is an aging country, with more than half its population near retirement age, the chief consideration for a large number of its citizens is the convenience to drive rather than the costs to do so.
D. In the last two decades, Papula has emerged as a major economic hub, leading to an increase in the living standard of its citizens and in the number of cars in the region.
E. Since people who don't own gasoline cars would not be benefitted from the proposed plan, they may strongly oppose the use of taxpayer money on such a plan.

the OA stated is C
but i somehow find hard to digest it as answer
isn't C making assumption that electric cars are more convenient than gasoline cars ? moreover we cant be sure as in what is convenient for older people .they might like less noise in their automobile and electric cars definitely make less noise than gasoline cars so who knows they might just like electric cars !!!

also the question stem never say that the plan if implemented, that means that we can very well doubt on the fact whether plan can be implemented or not in the first place .thinking this i picked B
thanks and regards

This one appears to have recently been discussed at this link https://gmatclub.com/forum/gasoline-cars ... 47427.html

The official answer given is C but Ron Awad - Veritas Instructor Extraordinaire from Montreal (that I have had the pleasure of meeting since I live only 90 minutes from Montreal) has given us a convincing case for choice A as the best answer.

Ron convincingly argues that the best way to short circuit this plan is to prevent it from even getting started - which is what you are saying aditya, but he concludes that choice A does the best job of stopping the plan since choice A says unequivocally that the "some" citizens who are concerned about the environment "will NOT spend ANY extra money" so even if there is "minimal cost" that will not matter since the people will spend nothing at all. This is much better than choice C which requires that we decide - as you mentioned aditya - that gasoline cars are some how more convenient.

Choice B also requires the assumption that the plan will cost lots of money for Papula - or that giong bankrupt is something that Papula is not willing to do. Perhaps the plan will not cost the government anything to implement or they are willing to do what it takes to save the environment, even go bankrupt.

to David@VeritasPrep
good day sir
the reason i rejected A is because it uses "some" .now "some" is very vague .i mean who knows "some" can mean 3 people or 4 people for that matter .and hence i think it wont affect my plan .but yes had A talked of majority then it cud have been a good choice !
thanks and regards

To
Tommy Wallach

good day sir
if A and C are out and if B can be thought as what i thought initially ,doesn't that make B better in all worst choice .atleast B is giving us that "window" or "opening" to make us realize that achieving the plan is itself difficult . i agree that had the question stem said :the plan if implemented ....blah blah ..then i wud have cancelled even B
thanks and regards

To Tommy Wallach
firstly thanks for guiding me through all this
as for ramifications of bankruptcy. i believe that objections to arguments do act as weakeners and underminers of objections to argument act as strengthener. so all i thought that may be this bankruptcy is giving govt a red flag and they may think that financially this plan might cost more than it may do good
but ,as directed by u ,i will put this question to rest
thanks again for being so patient with my arguments
regards

"Some" is normally pretty weak word to have on strengthen or weaken questions, however, I think that the reason Ron went with answer choice A - (I was going to say that none of them seem correct) - is that A does say "some", but it says "Though some of the citizens are concerned about the negative environmental impact of air pollution, they will not spend any extra money to protect the environment."

So in other words, ALL of those people who would be inclined to protect the environment will not spend any extra money. It is a bit like saying "Some people have been president of the United States and they have all been men. Even though there is a "some" term it leads to saying that "All U.S. Presidents have been men."

If this answer said "Some people drive gasoline powered cars and they are not interested in switching to electric cars at even a minimal cost" that would be a correct answer even with the word "some". Now with this choice A that we have, perhaps the "some" people who care about the environment are not the ones who would switch to electric cars - so that might be a weakness with choice A. For example, maybe some people think electric would be cheaper or as you said quieter and even with choice A those people who do not care about the environment might still switch - since they are not included in the "some".

Let me add my voice to Tommy's and say it is a strange one. I agree that we can put it too rest!