| Critical Reasoning Butler: May 2025 |
| May 8 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 Even though offering payday loans through public sector banks could be a strong source of revenue for the government, doing so should not be allowed. Offering such loans in public sector banks would not serve the best interests of the public. When the public starts taking on more payday loans, its overall financial health suffers.
The argument depends on which of the following?
A) The public will be financially healthier if it avoids payday loans entirely than if it only takes out such loans infrequently.
B) The public does not currently take on an amount of payday loans that is detrimental to its overall financial health.
C) If payday loans were offered by public sector banks, the public would take on more such loans.
D) The public generally prefers loan services from public sector banks to those from private sector banks.
E) The government should primarily be concerned with safeguarding the financial health of the public.
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CR 2 Disaster Management Specialist: The Citizen’s Party is known for consistently seeking opportunities to serve the public; to this end, it has been buying container homes and reserving them for use in the times of floods the city experiences every year. However, container homes last just for a few years, and the party has not even looked into procuring pre-fabricated homes, even though they are more durable, can be renovated easily, and take less space to store when not in use. Thus, some political commentators have argued that
the Citizen’s Party’s arrangements do not generate confidence in the party’s ability to take practical decisions. However, the cost of setting up a pre-fabricated home is much higher than that of setting up container homes, and the waiting time for a pre- fabricated home to be delivered by manufacturers is significantly longer than the time it takes to build a container home. Therefore,
the political commentators’ conclusion is probably incorrect.
In the disaster management specialist's argument, the two boldface portions play which of the following roles?
(A) The first supports the conclusion of the argument made by the disaster management specialist; the second questions that conclusion.
(B) The first states the conclusion of the argument made by the political commentators; the second states the conclusion of the argument made by the disaster management specialist.
(C) The first states the conclusion of the argument made by the disaster management specialist; the second supports that conclusion.
(D) The first supports the conclusion of the argument made by the political commentators; the second states that conclusion.
(E) Each supports the conclusion of the argument made by the disaster management specialist.