There are four basic solutions to handling monopolies:

1. Break it up (through anti-trust laws);
2. Regulate it;
3. Take it over; or
4. Leave it alone.

Of these four solutions, which one is superior? Why? If your answer is that "it depends," under what conditions would you favor each possibility? Also, are there any redeeming qualities of monopolies? What are they?

Guardian inc. is trying to develop an asset-financing plan. the firm has $450,000 in temporary current assets and $350,000 in permanent current assets. guardian also has $550,000 in fixed assets. assume a tax rate of 40 percent. a. construct two alternative financing plans for guardian. one of the plans should be conservative, with 70 percent of assets financed by long-term sources, and the other should be aggressive, with only 56.25 percent of assets financed by long-term sources. the current interest rate is 12 percent on long-term funds and 7 percent on short-term financing. compute the annual interest payments under each plan.

The prebisch–singer hypothesis concludes that: a. technology lowers the cost of manufactured products, so developing countries should see an increase in their terms of trade. b. developing countries experience a long-run decline in their terms of trade, as the demand for primary products in higher-income countries declines relative to their demand for manufactured goods. c. because of unfair trading practices, labor in developing countries is exploited. d. opec has been responsible for a slowdown in the world's standard of living.

Zachary company produces commercial gardening equipment. since production is highly automated, the company allocates its overhead costs to product lines using activity-based costing. the costs and cost drivers associated with the four overhead activity cost pools follow: activities unit level batch level product level facility level cost $ 64,800 $ 27,730 $ 15,000 $ 154,000 cost driver 2,400 labor hrs. 47 setups percentage of use 11,000 units production of 780 sets of cutting shears, one of the company’s 20 products, took 240 labor hours and 7 setups and consumed 15 percent of the product-sustaining activities. required: (a) had the company used labor hours as a company wide allocation base, how much overhead would it have allocated to the cutting shears? (b) how much overhead is allocated to the cutting shears using activity-based costing? (c) compute the overhead cost per unit for cutting shears first using activity-based costing and then using direct labor hours for allocation if 780 units are produced. if direct product costs are $150 and the product is priced at 30 percent above cost for what price would the product sell under each allocation system? (d) assuming that activity-based costing provides a more accurate estimate of cost, indicate whether the cutting shears would be over- or underpriced if direct labor hours are used as an allocation base. explain how over-or undercosting can affect vaulker's profitability. (e) comment on the validity of using the allocated facility-level cost in the pricing decision. should other costs be considered in a cost- plus pricing decision? if so, which ones? what costs would you include if you were trying to decide whether to accept a special order?