The rules of politics are not always the same as the rules of economics. In discussions of setting budgets for government agencies, there is a strategy called "closing the Washington monument." When an agency faces the unwelcome prospect of a budget cut, it may decide to close a high-visibility attraction enjoyed by many people (like the Washington monument). Explain in terms of diminishing marginal utility why the Washington monument strategy is so misleading. Hint: If you are really trying to make the best of a budget cut, should you cut the items in your budget with the highest marginal utility or the lowest marginal utility? Does the Washington monument strategy cut the items with the highest marginal utility or the lowest marginal utility?

Employees at a library check out books to patrons. books have an isbn and a name. the library sometimes has multiple copies of the same book. books have one or more authors. a patron is an individual who has an active (non-expired) library card. for each library card, we store the person's first and last names and their address. for each employee, we store their employee id, current salary, first and last name and their address. we also store the employee id of their current manager. each time we check out a book to a patron we need to store the date of the transaction, the employee who checked out the book to the patron, and the library card of the patron. some employees have library cards. if an employee patron turns in a book late, the fine that they pay is a percentage of their salary. some employees are authors who have library cards—they are allowed to check out as many books as they like.

Trey morgan is an employee who is paid monthly. for the month of january of the current year, he earned a total of $4,538. the fica tax for social security is 6.2% of the first $118,500 earned each calendar year, and the fica tax rate for medicare is 1.45% of all earnings for both the employee and the employer. the amount of federal income tax withheld from his earnings was $680.70. his net pay for the month is .

Lauer corporation uses the periodic inventory system and has provided the following information about one of its laptop computers: date transaction number of units cost per unit 1/1 beginning inventory 210 $ 910 5/5 purchase 310 $ 1,010 8/10 purchase 410 $ 1,110 10/15 purchase 255 $ 1,160 during the year, lauer sold 1,025 laptop computers. what was cost of goods sold using the lifo cost flow assumption?