Charlene and Gene Blair, age 51, are married and filed a joint return for Year 9. Their medical-related expenditures for Year 9 included the following: Medical insurance premiums $ 1,550 Medicines prescribed by doctors 450 Aspirin and over-the-counter cold capsules 80 Unreimbursed doctor fees 1,000 Transportation to and from doctors 150 Emergency room fee 500 The emergency room fee related to an injury incurred by the Blairs' adult son, Eric, during a visit to their home. The Blairs graciously paid the bill; however, they provided no other support for Eric during the year. For Year 9, Eric earned $18,000 as a self-employed house painter. Assuming the Blairs' adjusted gross income was $30,000, what amount of medical expenses can the Blairs deduct as an itemized deduction for Year 9

Steele bicycle manufacturing company currently produces the handlebars used in manufacturing its bicycles, which are high-quality racing bikes with limited sales. steele produces and sells only 10,000 bikes each year. due to the low volume of activity, steele is unable to obtain the economies of scale that larger producers achieve. for example, steele could buy the handlebars for $31 each: they cost $34 each to make. the following is a detailed breakdown of current production costs: after seeing these figures, steele's president remarked that it would be foolish for the company to continue to produce the handlebars at $34 each when it can buy them for $31 each. calculate the total relevant cost. do you agree with the president's conclusion?

Suppose that jim plans to borrow money for an education at texas a& m university. jim will need to borrow $25,000 at the end of each year for the next five years (total=$125,000). jim wishes his parents could pay for his education but they can’t. at least, he qualifies for government loans with a reduced interest rate while he is in school. he has a special arrangement with aggiebank to lend him the money at a subsidized rate of 1% over five years without having to make a payment until the end of the fifth year. however, at the end of the fifth year, jim agrees to pay off the loan by borrowing from longhorn bank. longhorn bank will lend him the money he needs at an annual interest rate of 6%. jim agrees to pay back the longhorn bank with 20 annual payments and the payments will be uniform (equal annual payments including principal and interest). (i) calculate how much money jim has to borrow at the end of 5 years to pay off the loan with aggiebank. a. $121,336 b. $127,525 c. $125,000 d. $102,020 e. none of the above

What do you think: would it be more profitable to own 200 shares of penny’s pickles or 1 share of exxon? why do you think that?