Weaken Questions - - Question 69
Household indebtedness, which some theorists regard as causing recession, was high preceding the recent recession, bu...
Replies
SamA September 17, 2019
Hello @nas,This is a tough one. Let's try to break down the information.
Premise: Some theorists believe that household indebtedness leads to recession. (This is the claim that the author will reject in regard to the recent recession.)
Premise: Household indebtedness and assets owned were both at high levels before the recent recession.
Premise: The author creates a case in which it is possible that household debt levels could lead to a recession even when asset ownership is high. According to the author, if the rich own the assets and the poor owe the debt, then it is possible that household debt caused the recession. Decreased spending due to debt is given as the cause.
Premise: The author then nullifies the above scenario. It does not apply to the recent recession, because rich people must have owed most of the debt, as money is not lent to those without assets.
Conclusion: Therefore the cause is not household indebtedness.
We need to weaken this conclusion. Therefore, we need something that will indicate that household indebtedness is truly the cause of the recession.
The hypothetical scenario the author gives makes it difficult to track this argument from beginning to end. At one point it seems that the author agrees that household debt leads to recession, and the next moment he/she is against it. The scenario does have a purpose other than misdirection, which is to introduce spending levels as a factor in recession.
Answer choice A gives us what we need to weaken the argument. The middle-income households are a group that was not discussed in the argument. This group is presented as third option the author hadn't considered. Household indebtedness was the cause of the recession, but the debt was owed by the middle-class. This resulted in decreased spending, which the author already acknowledged as a cause of recession.
nas September 18, 2019
This was a PERFECT explanation. Thank you!zgnewquist October 14, 2019
Thank you, that was really helpful. I still don't see how C is incorrect though, as he is assuming that low income households do not have any assets (a statement that he never proved) which seems that it would break apart his analogy. Is it because C does not say that low income households decreased their spending because of debt, but just that they decreased their spending?Ashley-Tien-2 May 4, 2021
The whole stimulus was confusing. So how exactly does household indebtedness actually cause a recession? I'm assuming household indebtedness is referring to people owing money. Is the recession caused by the households reducing their spending in order to pay off the debt?This is a side issue but I think the way the message boards work needs to change. I've received responses up to a year after I've initially posted. Most people don't have that sort of time.
Ashley-Tien-2 May 4, 2021
Like I asked a question in September 2018 and someone didn't respond until early 2020.SarahT May 18, 2021
^ Yeah it always seems like there's only 2-3 questions even posed on all of the discussion posts, so it's surprising that it takes so long to get an answer. Especially because the content of the program hasn't changed in at least 10 years since there are questions from 2012 that never even got answered.