An increase in the interest rate should the demand for dollars and the value of the dollar, and net exports should

Which of the following statements is correct? a. two firms with identical sales and operating costs but with different amounts of debt and tax rates will have different operating incomes by definition. b. free cash flow (fcf) is, essentially, the cash flow that is available for interest and dividends after the company has made the investments in current and fixed assets that are necessary to sustain ongoing operations. c. retained earnings as reported on the balance sheet represent cash and, therefore, are available to distribute to stockholders as dividends or any other required cash payments to creditors and suppliers. d. if a firm is reporting its income in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, then its net income as reported on the income statement should be equal to its free cash flow. e. after-tax operating income is calculated as ebit(1 - t) + depreciation.

Awidower devised his fee simple interest in his residence as follows: “to my daughter for life, then to my oldest grandchild who survives her.” at the time of the widower’s death, he was survived by his only two children, a son and a daughter, and by one grandchild, his daughter’s son. a short time later, the daughter together with her son entered into a contract to sell the residence in fee simple to a buyer. the applicable jurisdiction continues to follow the common law rule against perpetuities, but has abrogated the rule in shelley’s case. at the closing, the buyer refused to purchase the residence. can the sellers compel the buyer to do so?

You are chairman of the board of a successful technology firm. there is a nominal federal corporate tax rate of 35 percent, yet the effective tax rate of the typical corporation is about 12.6%. your firm has been clever with use of transfer pricing and keeping money abroad and has barely paid any taxes over the last 5 years; during this same time period, profits were $28 billion. one member of the board feels that it is un-american to use various accounting strategies in order to avoid paying taxes. others feel that these are legal loopholes and corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to minimize taxes. one board member quoted what the ceo of exxon once said: “i’m not a u. s. company and i don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the u. s.” what are the alternatives? what are your recommendations? why do you recommend this course of action?