Calculating your real tax rate

Assignment: Your assignment for today is to calculate your income tax. Calculating your taxes can be a bit confusing to say the least. Today, you're going to figure your real taxes. Use the following web site to calculate your tax bracket.

http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm


For the sake of income, lets figure your income on your birth date. Calculate it like this. If your birth date is July 4, 1997 then use this as your income

06/04/97
060497
$60,497

or if its October 10, 1996 then it would be:
10/10/96
101096
$101,096

Got it? Good.

Now, to calculate your income tax, us the 2013 table filing as single. Remember that the first $17,850 is taxed at 10%, from $17,850 to $72,500 is taxed at 15%, and $72,500 to $146,400 is taxed at 25%.

So if your income is $101,096, your tax would be calculated as follows

$17,850 x 10% = 1,785
(72,500 - 17,850) x 15% = $8,197.50
(101,096-72,500) x 25% = $7,149

1785.00 + 8197.50 + 7149.00 =  $17,131


Now  to calculate your FICA taxes at 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare. To use our example above...

101,096 x .062 = $6267.95
101,096 x .0145 = $1465.89
Total = $7,733.84
+ 17,131
= $24,864.84 or 24.59%

Try it! Calculate your tax rate and turn in your paper showing your work.

This exercise is worth 10 points

***For an extra 5 points, calculate your tax amount and percentage if you deduct a $5000 contribution to your IRA and deduct 5% of your paycheck for your 401K retirement account. 

Protecting Customer Data

Online commerce is becoming a major part of the American economy. According to a recent article in Forbes, last year online shopping accounted for 10% of retail purchases. Last year Sont, Home Depot and Target reported major data breaches that affected many customers. Read the following article on the incident with Target.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2014/01/17/the-target-data-breach-is-becoming-a-nightmare/

 On January 12 of this year, President Obama proposed a new series of data laws to protect consumers from data theft. According the the President, this is problem that is costing billions of dollars each year. Read the following article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/12/us-usa-obama-cybersecurity-idUSKBN0KL0EI20150112


Assignment: 

1. Create a Google Document titled Consumer Data.
2. Format your paper in 12 point Times New Roman, double spaced text
3. Share your document with edit rights.
4. Answer the following questions in complete sentences:

•  In the previous article. the President mentions barring educational software companies from selling student's data to other companies. Since these firms provide many services to students at no charge, how might this affect their business model? Do you agree or disagree with the President's proposal? Explain your answer.

Read the following article on the President's proposal:

 http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2015-state-of-the-union/sotu-will-obamas-cybersecurity-proposals-actually-protect-you-n289826

• What methods do cyber security firms use to protect consumer data. How might the proposed laws make their job more difficult?

Rubric:

Grammar usage and Punctuation 3 points
Formatting 3 points
Completeness of your answer 4 points
Total- 10 points.

Patent Trolls

Read Section 7.2 of your textbook. Make a note of the differences between patents, copyrights and trademarks. and how these regulations protect businesses.

Read the section on the FDA, FTC and other government organizations. Understand how the government protects people from businesses. Be able to discuss these.

What is a patent troll and how do they hurt businesses? Watch this video to learn more.

Terrorist acts on 9/11 cost the US economy about $123 billion. Patent trolls cost the economy $29 billion each year to defend. What can be done? Listen to how one entrepreneur fought patent trolls.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/12/what-the-courts-did-to-curb-patent-trollingfor-now/383138/

Discuss the following questions:

• According to the article, what are the 2 key elements of the patent trolls' business model?
• Why have patent trolls been so successful?
• How did the Alice Corp vs CLS Bank decision help businesses in defending themselves against frivolous lawsuits?

Additional info on patent trolling.

 http://stopbadpatents.com.
 http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/26/138576167/when-patents-attack
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/how-the-patent-trolls-won-in-congress/

Assignment: Study the next 5 terms on Quizlet.Complete the learn section and take a practice multiple choice test on the first 10 terms.

Add these 5 terms to your study list. Study the flash cards to familiarize yourself with these 5 new terms. Tale the learn module and take a practice test.

• Trademark
• Copyright
• Patent
• Cookies
• Information Liability

The discussion is worth 5 points. The Quizlet exercise is worth 5 points.

Government Regulation

The US Government regulates business monopolies through a series of acts and regulations. Read pages 162-164 of your textbook. Take note of the Acts and what each Act regulates. Watch this video on the role of government regulation:

Read section 7.1 of your textbook. Be able to explain how the federal government regulates monopolies and promotes fair competition. Also be able to explain how bankruptcy protects businesses from creditors.


Read the following article on how the government moved to block the US Airways- American Airlines merger.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/15/why-the-justice-department-blocked-the-american-us-airways-merger/

From your reading, discuss the following questions. Be able to cite evidence from the article to support your answer.:

• Why had the government been so willing to allow airline mergers in the past?
• What does the article tell you about how the Acts and regulations are enforced? Which branch of government is entrusted with enforcing the law?
• How would the merger have hurt competition and harmed consumers?

Assignment: Log on to Quizlet and view ALL of the flashcards. Complete learn on the first 5 terms and be prepared to take a quiz at the beginning of our next class.

Participation in the discussion is worth 5 points. Completing the Quizlet assignment is worth 5 points as well.

Chapter 7 Quizlet Terms

The Quizlet terms for chapter 7 have been posted. You'll need to learn these for the next exam. Start learning these a few at a time. We'll be having quizzes on five new items from the list at the start of each class period.

http://quizlet.com/_13rv70

Happy MLK Day!

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

-MLK

Who is Marvin Ellison?

Who's the most successful HHS graduate? It might just be this guy and you've probably never heard of him.

The stockholder strikes back.

Boards and executive teams often have very cozy relationships. As you have already seen through your research, a Board Chairman will also serve as a CEO of the same company. Stockholders and their interests are sometime forgotten. That's where activist investors come in. Read the following story and video on how companies respond to the presence of shareholders who try to influence or take over the board of a company.

Read the following article.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100963166

Think: How could activist investors benefit a company? How could they hurt it?
Why have activist investors grown more influential in the past?

Discuss: Do activist investors keep CEOs on their toes or do they create a distraction?

For further reading, read more about the most famous activist investors and their target companies.

Bill Ackman
Daniel Loeb
Nelson Peltz
Carl Ichan
David Tepper
David Einhorn
John Paulson

Is the public corporation dying?

Since 1997 the number of companies listed on stock exchanges has declines from 8800 to 4100. Why is this? Is the large publicly traded company a thing of the past? Carefully read the following article on the rise of the virtual corporation.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/triumph-virtual-corporation-194905193.html

Also, read abut virtual corporations on page 150 of your textbook.
 
Assignment: Create a Google Document with a classmate answering the following questions.

1. How did Dell Computer's business model differ from Nike's?
2. What was the advantage of the Dell model?
3. What was the advantage of Nike's business model?
4. Why did the Nike model triumph?
5. Why would the Nike business model lead to the reduction in the number of publicly traded companies?
6. Do you think the Nike business model is sustainable? Why or why not?
7. If you were to start a shoe business today, which model would you use? Nike's or Dell's? Explain your answer.

Title your document Virtual Corporation. Format your paper in 10 point Times New Roman double-spaced text. Put your name and your partner's name at the top. Research and discuss your answers before writing. Make sure you answer the questions in complete sentences! I'll be grading using the following rubric:

Grammar Usage and Punctuation 3 points
Formatting 3 points
Completeness of your answers 4 points
10 points total.

Closely held does not equal small!

Over 90% of American corporations are closely held. Closely held companies are typically owned by a few individuals, often from a single family. Below is a list of some of the largest closely held companies in America. Some of these names you may recognize; others may not be as familiar to you.

Cargill
Hobby Lobby
ChickFila
Koch
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Pilot Flying J
Publix
Loves Travel Stops
Ernst and Young
Reyes Holdings
C&S Wholesale Grocers
US Foods
Aramark
Meijer
ToysRUs
Performance Food Group
HJ Heinz
Fidelity Investments
Cox Enterprises
SC Johnson and Son
Hilton Worldwide
Bloomberg
Menard
Brightstar
Graybar Electric
Edward Jones
Winco Foods
Kohler
Charmer Sunbelt Group
Avaya
Neiman Marcus
Levi Strauss & Co.
Genesis Healthcare
Southwire

Assignment Part 1: You'll be paired with a partner for this assignment. You'll be assigned two of the companies listed above. For each company, you'll need to do some research.  Some of these companies make a lot of information public while others might guard their information more carefully. Find out the following information:
1. What are the annual revenues?
2. Where is the headquarters?
3.Who is the CEO?
4. Who are the owners?
5. How many employees do they have?
6. What products or services they offer?

Type this information us in a Google Docs file and share it with me by the end of class. Title your paper Closely Held Companies. Make sure you put you and your partners name at the top of the page.

5 Points

Part 2: Recently the Supreme Court ruled that Hobby Lobby, a privately held company, has the right to refuse contraceptive coverage to its employees based on religious grounds. Read the following article on the topic:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/30/after-hobby-lobby-these-77-corporations-will-drop-birth-control-coverage.html

Discuss this issue with your partner. Write your thoughts down in a separate Google Docs paper titled Hobby Lobby. Explain why you think private companies should have the same rights as individuals (ie free speech, free association etc.).

5 Points

Part 3: Complete the Learn section of the Quizlet section on corporations. Also Complete a multiple choice test and a scatter test.

5 points


Each part of this assignment is worth 5 points for a total of 15 points.


Note! For next class, make sure you know the definitions to the following terms:

• Close Corporation
• Open Corporation
• IPO
• Personal Guarantee
• Proxy

Corporations Explained

What are corporations and how are they set up? Here's a basic explanation.

What are the advantages of a corporation? Here's a good 10 minute explanation of corporations and why you'd want one.

Assignment: Corporate structures consist of Stockholders, a Board of Directors, Officers, Employees and Customers/ Citizens. Look up the Board of Directors, CEO and corporate officers for a given company. Title your paper Corporate Structure - <company name>. You paper must be typed in 12 point Times New Roman, double spaced. Put the names in bold. Share your paper using the blue share button in Google Docs. Use one of the following companies:

General Motors
Kellogs
Apple Computer
Merck
Pepsico
Xerox
American Express
Walmart
IBM
Nike
McDonald's
Fubu

Grammar Usage and Punctuation - 3 points
Spelling - 3 points
Answer content - 4 points
10 points total


When you're done, review the terms in Quizlet and take the Learn module twice. Pay particular attention to the following terms:

Corporation
Charter
Stockholder
Stock
Dividends
Board of Directors
Officers

This review is worth 5 points.