The Quality of a Discussion Often Depends on How Closely

question 38

Essay

The quality of a discussion often depends on how closely the parties attend to the same issue. For the passage below, determine whether the speakers are clearly disputing the same issue, or whether somebody is missing the point.
A: I can't believe the student government paid John Kerry over a thousand dollars to come here and give a speech. He's been out of the news for ages, and he's clearly biased. They should have saved our money.
B: Listen, George Bush Sr. has been out of office for a while now too, and he's clearly as biased as anybody. Nevertheless, people pay tons of money for him to come and speak. So lay off about Kerry.

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Definitions:

Herfindahl Index

A measure of the size of firms in relation to the industry and an indicator of the amount of competition among them, calculated by squaring the market share of each firm within the industry and then summing the total.

Vertical Merger

A merger between two companies that operate at different stages of the production process for a specific product.

Kentucky Fried Chicken

A global fast-food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken, commonly known by its acronym KFC.

Vertical Merger

The combination of two or more companies at different stages of production in the same industry.