vprabhala wrote:
Economic considerations color every aspect of international dealings, and nations are just like individuals in that the lender sets the terms of its dealings with the borrower. That is why a nation that owes money to another nation cannot be world leader.
The reasoning in the passage assumes which one of the following?
(A) A nation that does not lend to any other nation cannot be a world leader.
(B) A nation that can set the terms of its dealings with other nations is certain to be a world leader.
(C) A nation that has the terms of its dealings with another action set by that nation cannot be a world leader.
(D) A nation that is a world leader can borrow from another nation as long as that other nation does not set the terms of the dealings between the two nations.
(E) A nation that has no dealings with any other nation cannot be world leader.
"the conclusion is about nations who own the money can not be a leader, but that does not mean the other nation would be a leader." Indeed, as far as we're concerned, maybe none of them can be a world leader.
So we're concluding that a nation that owes money to another nation cannot be a world leader. But all we know from the premise about the debtor nation is that it doesn't get to set the terms of the deal -- it's the lender who gets to set the terms. So we need an assumption that says, "If you're not setting the terms of your loan, you can't be a world leader."
That's exactly what (C) says, which is why it's correct.
(A) is out because this doesn't tell us anything about the nation that owes money.
(B) also is irrelevant as we discussed; we care about the nation that borrows, not the one that lends.
(D) was tempting to me, but it's actually backwards. It's telling us that if the other nation doesn't set the terms, you can be a world leader -- but that doesn't mean you can't be a world leader if the other nation does set the terms.
(E) is incorrect because we're talking about a nation that does have dealings with other nations.
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