A healthy national economy is normally in oscillation between a period of freely flowing dollars driving the economy to expansion and a more tightly controlled release of money stabilizing it. All of these actions are initiated by the Federal Reserve (the Fed). When the Fed unleashes money into the system with low interest rates, consumer confidence rises, spending increases, business expands, and the economy itself grows. As wealth accumulates, the pricing of goods and services rises rapidly, creating inflation. The Fed neutralizes inflation by clamping down on the flow of money by setting higher interest rates. With less money available, spending and demand diminishes, usually curtailing or lowering prices. Unfortunately, this balance of control can only operate perfectly in a closed system. In the world economy, external, universal demands for food and oil fuel create an internal inflationary resonance. Increased flow of money is offset by unchecked inflation, and the economy remains flat. When that happens, the Fed is faced with the no-win condition of stagflation: it must attempt to increase the flow of dollars into the economy and see inflation skyrocket disproportionately against economic growth, or restrain spending to control inflation, forcing Americans to see their cumulative wealth dissipate.

What roles do the highlighted sentences play in the passage?

(A) The first sentence establishes the author's primary argument, and the second sentence is a detail supporting the argument.
(B) The first sentence identifies the two subjects of the passage, and the second sentence describes a point of comparison.
(C)The first sentence states a premise, and the second sentence supplies a criticism of that premise.
(D)The first sentence defines the primary idea of the passage, and the second sentence states the secondary idea.
(E)The first sentence provides a definition for the subject of the passage, and the second sentence is an example of the subject.