June 2003 LSAT Section 3 Question 7

If cold fusion worked, it would provide almost limitless power from very inexpensive raw materials, materials far che...

AndrewArabie on December 2, 2022

Typo in answer choice E?

I chose C over E because I had no idea what E is saying and was fairly certain C did not resolve the paradox. What exactly are "personnel costs?" Was it supposed to say "personal* costs?" If "personnel costs" were the salaries/benefits of the electric companies workers then I don't see how the rest of the answer choice makes any sense. Can someone explain how E resolves the Paradox

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AndrewArabie on December 2, 2022

Furthermore, I can see a scenario in which C does not resolve the paradox because if the electric companies are "incorporating" cold fusion, it would stand to reason they would be producing electricity using one or the other as a supplement thereby not cutting costs as much as they would if they were just only using cold fusion. I know thats an assumption but it feels like a pretty reasonable assumption.

Emil-Kunkin on December 3, 2022

Personnel does mean salary and benefits. The term is really only used in reference to the employees and contractors of an employer.

If we take E to be true, then there is another cost that does not change if we reduce the cost of fuel. If fuel costs are 25 percent of the cost, and personnel costs are 75 percent, then we can understand how cost only falls by a quarter. C does not resolve the paradox, since the argument already assumes that we have made this switch. thus C is correct.