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new argument topics the following appeared in the business section of a newspaper. given that the number of people in our country with some form of arthritis is expected to rise from 40 million to 60 million over the next twenty years, pharmaceutical companies that produce drugs for the treatment of arthritis should be very profitable. many analysts believe that in ten years becton pharmaceuticals, which makes xenon, the best-selling drug treatment for arthritis, will be the most profitable pharmaceutical company. but the patent on xenon expires in three years, and other companies will then be able to produce a cheaper version of the drug. thus, it is more likely that in ten years the most profitable pharmaceutical company will be perkins pharmaceuticals, maker of a new drug called xylan, which clinical studies show is preferred over xenon by seven out of ten patients suffering from the most extreme cases of arthritis. the following appeared in a memo from the chief executive of a video game company. we have recently been offered the opportunity to buy the rights to produce a video game based on the soon-to-be-published childrens book squirrel power, by peter wood. while the cost of the rights is substantial and will place economic constraints on our company in the short-term, there are two reasons that the purchase of these rights will undoubtedly be a wise investment. first, woods last three books have been best sellers and the movie based on his first book was highly profitable. second, the popular characters and story line in squirrel power will save us time in developing our video game, thereby reducing our costs. | 
