Yacob: Because of inflation, manufacturing the least valuable coins in our nation's currency now costs more than their face value. To solve this problem, the national bank plans to start manufacturing the coins from plastic, at a cost of about eighty percent of their face value. However, this solution is inadvisable, since it is quite easy to produce counterfeits of plastic coins.Yacob's conclusion is the following:
this solution (manufacturing the coins from plastic, at a cost of about eighty percent of their face value) is inadvisableThe support for the conclusion is the following:
it is quite easy to produce counterfeits of plastic coinsWe see that Yacob has reasoned that, although plastic coins can be manufactured for less than the face value of the coins, using plastic coins is not a good idea since it's easy to make counterfeit plastic coins.
Which of the following, if pointed out by an advocate of the national bank's plan, would most help support the plan by countering Yacob's objection?Although this question stem asks for a choice that helps "support the plan," this question is a Weaken question since the correct answer will support the plan by undermining the case for Yacob's objection. In other words, the correct answer will weaken the case for Yacob's conclusion.
A. It would cost about one and one-half times as much for any criminal operation to counterfeit the plastic coins as it would for the national bank to manufacture them.This choice is interesting.
After all, under the national bank's plan, plastic coins will be manufactured "at a cost of about eighty percent of their face value."
So, if, as this choice says, "It would cost about one and one-half times as much for any criminal operation to counterfeit the plastic coins as it would for the national bank to manufacture them," then the cost for criminal operations to counterfeit the plastic coins would be 1.5 × 80% = 120% of face value. In other words, it would cost criminals more to counterfeit the coins than the coins are worth.
Of course, if it would cost more to counterfeit the coins than they are worth, then there won't be any issue with counterfeiting the coins, even if they would be easy to produce. After all, criminals would lose rather than gain by producing coins that are worth less than they cost to produce. So, the probability that criminals will counterfeit the coins is basically zero.
So, this choice indicates that counterfeiting the plastic coins won't be an issue, even though it's easy. Thus, it weakens the case for Yacob's conclusion.
Keep.
B. Very few if any counterfeits of the current metal coins have ever been produced.This choice has the vibe of weakening the argument because it says that few counterfiet coins have been produced.
However, with a closer look, we see that this choice has no bearing on Yacob's argument, which is about counterfeiting of plastic coins. After all, the fact that few counterfeits of metal coins have been produced doesn't mean that counterfeits of plastic coins, which Yacob says are "easy to produce," will not be produced.
Eliminate.
C. The national bank could easily manufacture the coins for less than face value by using cheaper metals rather than plastic and thereby deter counterfeiters.To weaken the argument, we need to show that producing plastic coins may not be "inadvisable."
The fact provided by this choice, which is that metal coins could be produced instead, clearly doesn't mean that producing plastic coins is not inadvisable.
This choice provides a way to deter counterfeiting - produce cheaper metal coins - but it doesn't solve the problem of likely counterfeiting of plastic coins.
Eliminate.
D. Because the cost of the metal from which the coins are currently made is rapidly decreasing, it will soon cost only about sixty percent of the face value of the coins to manufacture them from metal.This choice indicates that the face value-related problem with producing metal coins will soon cease to exist.
That that problem related to metal coins will cease to exist does not mean that the counterfeiting-related problem with plastic coins doesn't exist.
Eliminate.
E. Several other nations have recently started making their least valuable coins from plastic, successfully reducing manufacturing costs.The fact that other nations are making coins from plastic doesn't mean that that plastic coins used in Yacob's nation won't be counterfeited.
Eliminate.
Correct answer: A