Explain how buying a variable annuity is much like investing in a mutual fund. Do you, as a buyer, have any control over the amount of investment risk to which you're exposed in a variable annuity contract

The text states that the committee “expects inflation to rise gradually toward 2% over the medium term as the labor market improves further….” why would the fomc expect inflation to rise because of improvements in the labor market?

Laval produces lamps and home lighting fixtures. its most popular product is a brushed aluminum desk lamp. this lamp is made from components shaped in the fabricating department and assembled in the assembly department. information related to the 22,000 desk lamps produced annually follows.direct materials $280,000direct labor fabricating department (8,000 dlh × $24 per dlh) $192,000assembly department (16,600 dlh × $26 per dlh) $431,600machine hours fabricating department $15,200mhassembly department $20,850mhexpected overhead cost and related data for the two production departments follow.fabricating assemblydirect labor hours 150,000dlh 295,000dlhmachine hours 161,000mh 128,000mhoverhead cost $400,000 430,000required1. determine the plantwide overhead rate for laval using direct labor hours as a base.2. determine the total manufacturing cost per unit for the aluminum desk lamp using the plantwide overhead rate.3. compute departmental overhead rates based on machine hours in the fabricating department and direct labor hours in the assembly department.4. use departmental overhead rates from requirement 3 to determine the total manufacturing cost per unit for the aluminum desk lamps.

Hank itzek manufactures and sells homemade wine, and he wants to develop a standard cost per gallon. the following are required for production of a 70-gallon batch. 2,700 ounces of grape concentrate at $0.04 per ounce 77 pounds of granulated sugar at $0.43 per pound 133 lemons at $0.79 each 350 yeast tablets at $0.24 each 350 nutrient tablets at $0.14 each 2,500 ounces of water at $0.001 per ounce hank estimates that 4% of the grape concentrate is wasted, 9% of the sugar is lost, and 32% of the lemons cannot be used. compute the standard cost of the ingredients for one gallon of wine. (round intermediate calculations and final answer to 2 decimal places, e.g.