The nature of political battles over trade in the modern era a. typically centers on issues involving the trade-induced devaluation of labor skills. b. originates with the fundamental conflict between workers and capitalists. c. has remained unchanged from the battles fought throughout history. d. centers on disputes between landowners and manufacturers.

Following is a list of various costs incurred in producing replacement automobile parts. with respect to the production and sale of these auto parts, classify each cost as either variable costs, fixed costs, or mixed costs. 1. oil used in manufacturing equipment 2. plastic 3. property taxes, $165,000 per year on factory building and equipment 4. salary of plant manager 5. cost of labor for hourly workers 6. packaging 7. factory cleaning costs, $6,000 per month 8. metal 9. rent on warehouse, $10,000 per month plus $25 per square foot of storage used 10. property insurance premiums, $3,600 per month plus $0.01 for each dollar of property over $1,200,000 11. straight-line depreciation on the production equipment 12. hourly wages of machine operators 13. electricity costs, $0.20 per kilowatt-hour 14. computer chip (purchased from a vendor) 15. pension cost, $1.00 per employee hour on the job

"in my opinion, we ought to stop making our own drums and accept that outside supplier's offer," said wim niewindt, managing director of antilles refining, n.v., of aruba. "at a price of $21 per drum, we would be paying $4.70 less than it costs us to manufacture the drums in our own plant. since we use 70,000 drums a year, that would be an annual cost savings of $329,000." antilles refining's current cost to manufacture one drum is given below (based on 70,000 drums per year):

Although appealing to more refined tastes, art as a collectible has not always performed so profitably. during 2003, an auction house sold a sculpture at auction for a price of $10,211,500. unfortunately for the previous owner, he had purchased it in 2000 at a price of $12,177,500. what was his annual rate of return on this sculpture? (a negative answer should be indicated by a minus sign. do not round intermediate calculations and enter your answer as