GRE Argument task review

[Michael Jordan]

[PROMPT]

SuperCorp recently moved its headquarters to Corporateville. The recent surge in the number of homeowners in Corporateville proves that Corporateville is a superior place to live than Middlesburg, the home of SuperCorp's current headquarters. Moreover, Middleburg is a predominately urban area and according to an employee survey, SuperCorp has determined that its workers prefer to live in an area that is not urban. Finally, Corporateville has lower taxes than Middlesburg, making it not only a safer place to work but also a cheaper one. Therefore, Supercorp clearly made the best decision.

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on the assumptions and what the implications are if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

[RESPONSE] 

 

The argument that Supercorp has made the best decision of moving its headquarters from Middlesburg to Corporateville is open to debate. There are many assumptions that the author makes. The most glaring assumption is that lower taxes and a less urban setting directly qualifies Corporateville as the best destination for setting up Supercorp's new headquarters. The author mentions that due to the fact that Corporateville is a less urban area, it is a much safer place than Middlesburg. This may not be true as Corporateville may have an unusually higher crime rate than its counterparts. We just cannot say. Also the lower taxes may be a policy of the government to bring in more investment and after a few years the government may be tempted to raise the taxes, bringing the expenses at a comparable level to what the company had in Middlesburg. Another statement that invokes suspicion is the claim from the survey that the employees prefer t live in non urban areas. The authenticity of the survey may be called into question as it was not done by an independent outside organisation. Even after considering the survey authentic, the results may have been incorrectly interpreted. It may be the case that the employees at the lower spectrum of work who were, not surprisingly, in greater numbers preferred non urban areas while the top management which was fewer in numbers were greatly opposed to living in non urban areas. The surge in number of homeowners is in no way an indication of the superiority of Corporateville as compared to Middlesburg. This may have been a result of government subsidy on taxes which ultimately pulled a large number of people to invest in property here. Corporateville may as well have been a city lagging behind others and in an attempt to make it more attractive to industry and the general population certain policies and tax sops may have been introduced by the government and the duration up to which they will last is hard to say.