The following appeared in a memo from the Mayor of the city of Hillview:" In order to alleviate the serious unemployment problem in our town, we should encourage Autotech to build its automobile manufacturing plant in our area. The Hillview landfill, whic

The author presents a memo from the Mayor of the city of Hillview. In summary he argues that, if the Autotect build its manufacturing plant in the area, then the employment predicament will be allayed To ratify his claim, the author makes unjustifiable assumptions. Also the argument lacks concrete evidences. That is why, as a whole , the argument falls apart.

To begin with the author states that a automobile plant in the area can help alleviate the serious employment problem. Here the author should have specified, how dire is the employment problem? Next he mentions the perfect site for the plant. He however neglects to provide exact information or criteria. How is the site appropriate for the plant? What are the criterion for the site? Also there could be other alternatives that can also help assuage the employment crises. LIke a new software developing company or rather a new clothes production factory. Thus these questions need to be answered in order to analyse the recommendation.

Next the author asserts that the building and staffing of the plan will put to work thousand of Hillview residents left unemployed after the softerware company abandoned its national facility. There is an element of ambiguity which arises due to lack of evidences and data. How many locals are unemployed? How many employees are needed in the plant? Will the plant recruit the denizens of the city or will they bring their own workers? The answers to these questions are imperative in evaluating the argument. For eg if the plant will hire only 100 people and 5000 citizens are currently jobless, then the factory will not significantly mitigate the employment problem.

Finally the author advises the City Council to authorize a large campaign to attract the company and offer significant tax incentives. However this conclusion is based on flawed assumptions. The author supposes that the campaign and the tax incentive will draw the company toward the city. However it is not clear whether these measure will charm the Autotech. Perhaps they are looking for different factors. Like if the town has skilled workers or is it nearer to major tranport facility. Maybe they are interested in a city where raw materials are easily available or the market place is near-by. All these elements can also influence the Autotech decision. Thus the author argument is fallacious. Though if he had cited certain evidences that explicitly demonstrate the fact , the Autotect will get wooed through the tax incentive , then the argument can become more credible.

In order to fully appraise the author's argument, certain questions need to answered. Moreover solid evidences are also required to bolster the claims. The argument is lacking in these aspects. Moreover there are a raft of unwarranted assumptions. As a result the conclusion becomes untenable.