International Issues Paper Instructions– Winter 2018 .docx

International Issues Paper Instructions– Winter 2018
You are required to turn in a one paragraph summary explaining
which recent
international event you INTEND to write your paper on to your
TA on the evening
of Feb. 12 (the night of the midterm).Please be sure there are
sufficient newspaper
articles available to support your topic choice.
The purpose of this project is to further develop your critical
thinking, research skills and to
encourage you to delve into an international issue of your
choosing. The project consists of two
components: a collection of at least four current newspaper
articles related to a single
international event of your choosing, and 2000 word summary-
analysis paper devoted to the
articles you selected for this project. You will also need to
include a “works cited” or
bibliography page along with hard copies of each of your news
articles when you submit your
essay on Monday, March 5.
All materials for this project are due to your TA in lecture on
Mon., March 5, 2018. Late papers
will lose 10 points for each day they are late.
Purpose of the Paper (Examining the Production of

Contemporary Historiography) - The goal
of this paper is to allow you to analyze how “historiography” is
an ongoing process largely
influenced by the news media. History is a subjectively
generated product. History incorporates
the biases and viewpoints of those who produce it. The news
media today is a key source in
providing us with “meaning” connected to newsworthy
“historical” events. In fact, the news
media is in fact a major part of the process that generates
"history.” Although news media
reporters and editors frequently claim that they are presenting
“just the facts," the way in which
these “facts” are presented often carry a number of biases that
strongly influence public
perception and interpretations of current events.
For this assignment, you are going to pick a specific, single
international event and examine how
this event is presented by different news media sources from
around the globe. You are being
asked to compare the articles you have selected for this
assignment and discuss how the differing
ways in which the event you have chosen actually reflects more
than the "plain" facts, but rather
reveals complex layers of social values, assumptions, biases,
beliefs and meanings by each of
your articles' authors.
Selecting a Topic
1) First, select a single international news event that has
occurred in the past 60 days. Since the
purpose of the paper is to address international issues, the event
you select for this assignment
must have occurred OUTSIDE of the United States (although

the issue may INCLUDE the US
as one of the agents involved). There are numerous current news
issues to choose from, but for
this project I strongly suggest that you choose an event of a
political or social nature.
If you are struggling to find a topic for this paper, you may
want to check out respected news
sources online such a CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera, etc. to get a sense
of current news events that are
relevant to this assignment.
2) Your topic should be a single, recent event, not an ongoing
issue. For example, you might
choose to discuss a recent, single action that took place in
Egypt or Afghanistan or Syria or the
Ukraine or the Central African Republic, but you may NOT
choose the overall, ongoing violence
in Afghanistan or Syria or the Ukraine or The Central African
Republic, etc., as your topic. For
example, you could choose a single recent protest, or meeting or
act of violence that has recently
occurred in Syria as your event for this paper, but you may not
choose the ongoing civil war in
Syria as your topic. A recent election (outside of the US), a
newly approved law or act of
legislation (outside of the US) an international meeting, the
signing of a treaty or international
agreement, a single act of violence, a recent missile test, a
recent day of protest or a recent
military action that took place on a single day. However, any
paper that tries to address the

entirety of the Syrian civil war, war refugees, peace in the
Middle East, Aids in Africa, poverty
in India, international human rights, human trafficking in
Southeast Asia or drug trafficking in
Mexico, etc. are all too broad for this assignment and are not
appropriate topics for this class.
You need to choose something much smaller - a single action or
event that occurred on a specific
day - as a topic for this assignment. For example, you could
pick some relatively small,
particular portion of an issue to focus on, such as a reaction to a
controversial law that has just
been passed, or a particular act of violence that recently
occurred, or a recent meeting between
heads of state or a recent foreign election, or a recent military
intervention, etc. Also, please do
not choose a sporting event, a natural disaster, a health crisis or
an outbreak of disease for this
assignment.
You may NOT write your paper about an event that occurred in
the US, such as the recent Las
Vegas shootings, since this would be a domestic issue and you
need to choose an international
topic for this assignment.
Selecting Articles
3) You will need to have collected at least four newspaper
articles on the SAME EVENT from
DIFFERENT nations. You are only permitted to use one article
from a US newspaper source and
your other three article choices should be on the same event but
each one must be selected from a
DIFFERENT newspaper and from a DIFFERENT nation. In
other words, each article you
choose will come from a different nation’s newspaper, but all

four articles must still be focused
on the same event and should have been published within 48
hours of each other. This will
enable you to distinguish how a particular event is presented
differently in various newspapers
from around the world. You may use online versions of
newspaper articles. The articles may not
be more than 60 days old when you submit your final paper.
Please do not use op-ed pieces
(articles from either the opinion or editorial section of a
newspaper) for this assignment. You will
need to submit hard copies of each of your newspaper articles
when you submit your completed
assignment.
Conclusion: Write a 2000 word Project Summary-Critique
4) WRITE a 2000 minimum word (double spaced, medium size
10 –12 font, standard margins)
in which you provide a summary and comparison of the
different articles you have selected for
this assignment. You will search for differing emphases and
patterns between your articles, and
you will consider the differing impact each individual article
might make on its reader depending
on how the issue is presented and handled by each author. You
are to examine and critique the
differing ways in which the issue is being presented in your
articles.

Also, for this paper, you need to consider how the news reports
of today become the
“historiography” of tomorrow. This is an opportunity for you to
think critically about how the
news is presented to the reader in each newspaper. Do you have
a sense that certain “facts” are
being emphasized in one article while those same facts are
dismissed or ignored or presented
somewhat differently by the authors in some of your other
selected articles? Do you have a sense
that only one particular side of the issue is being presented in a
particular article? If so, why do
you think this is happening? In what ways has the event you
have selected for this assignment
been reported differently in each of your articles? (Keep in
mind that these differences may be
subtle). In what way might these differences influence the
reader to draw a different conclusion
about the event? A particular new article will often (though not
always) tend to focus on only
side of an issue. Which sides of the issue do you see being
presented in your different articles?
Why do you think this might this be happening? In what way
might ethnocentric perspectives or
national interests be influencing how the issue is being
presented differently in each of your
articles? Do you see any biases built into the way that the issue
is being presented or reported by
the authors of your articles?
Finally, what have you learned through this process? What have
you come to understand about
the production of "news" and the power of the news media over
the reader by comparing these
different articles?

You must include a hard copy of all of your newspaper articles
with your final paper. You
must include a bibliography/reference page with your final
paper. You must include a
word count on your paper.
This paper and all accompanying materials, including hard
copies of your articles and a
works cited page, is due to your TA in lecture on Monday,
March 5, 2018 This paper is
worth 200 points (20% of the possible points for this course).
Late papers will lose ten points for each day they are submitted
late.
****You are required to submit a one paragraph, TYPED,
summary of what you plan to
write your paper to class on Feb. 12 (the evening of the
midterm). Please include your
name, your student id# and your current email address on your
summary.****
Accessing the Newsbank data source in order to find newspaper
articles:
As a UCI student, you may search and download from a large
database of newspapers that are
available to you through the campus library link located at:

http://libguides.lib.uci
.edu/content.php?pid=42073&sid=797720
After opening the above link, click on the "Newsbank: Access
World News" link. On the next
page you will want to click on the “world” shortcut.
You can then start your search for articles related to your
selected news event.
If you are off campus, you will need to login through the VPN
before you can access the above
database. To access this data base from off campus please go
FIRST to:
http://www.lib.uci.edu/how/connect-from-off-campus.html
then click on the "Web VPN (Login now)" tab which will then
instruct you to login using your
UCInet ID. After logging in through the VPN link you will be
able to access the campus library
databases including the Newsbank (World Newspapers)
database.
http://libguides.lib.uci.edu/content.php?pid=42073&sid=797720
http://www.lib.uci.edu/how/connect-from-off-
campus.htmlSelecting a TopicConclusion: Write a 2000 word
Project Summary-Critique
Q U E S T I O N 1
1. Which of the following statements is false?

A. When real estate is purchased in a lump sum, the cost
allocation for the purchase of multiple assets
usually is based upon the relative fair market values of the
separate assets.
B. Because the rule for allocating costs based on relative fair
markets values is conceptualy simple, it is
usually easy to apply to specific situations.
C. An acceptable practice for determining relative fair market
values is through appraisal by experts.
D. In some court cases, replacement cost was used to accurately
measure relative fair market values.
E. All of the above statements are true.
Q U E S T I O N 2
A. Landscaping costs are part of the cost of land and can never
be depreciated.
B. While the cost of land itself is not depreciable, various land
improvements may be depreciable in
certain circumstances.

C. In determining whether or not a particular item of property is
tangible personal property rather than
real estate, local law is NOT controlling.
D. Land improvements that do not permanently improve the
land but improve it only for the use with a
specific building are depreciable land improvements.
Q U E S T I O N 3
A. Wall to wall carpeting installed in an office building is
deemed a structural part of the building because
it is permanently affixed to the floor of the building and is not
readily removable.
B. The distinction between structural components of a building
and personal property has remained
troublesome and often is a matter of dispute between taxpayers
and the IRS.
C. One factor that is used to distinguish personal property from
realty is whether the item is permanently
affixed to the land or readily movable or designed to be moved.

D. The tax code transforms a cash basis taxpayer into
essentially an accrual basis taxpayer for purposes
of determining the amount of real estate taxes that are
deductible in the year real estate is purchased
or sold.
Q U E S T I O N 4
1. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The purpose of the residual method of allocating a lump sum
purchase price for multiple assets is to
prevent amounts paid for amortizable goodwill to be allocated
to long-lived assets such as depreciable
buildings.
B. One of the main purposes of the residual method of
allocating costs is to determine the amount of the
purchase price that is allocable to goodwill and going concern
value.
C. A group of assets purchased for a lump sum constitutes a
trade or business sale if more than one class
of assets is included in the sale price (e.g. realty and personal
property).

D. If real estate is sold as part of a sale of a complete trade or
business (going-concern), the residual
method of allocating the purchase price among the assets
acquired is NOT required since the taxpayer
may use any "reasonable method" to allocate the purchase price
among the assets purchased.
E. All the above statements are false.
Q U E S T I O N 5
A. The tax code requires the buyer or his agent to withhold
Federal income taxes from the sale proceeds
belonging to a foreign (non-resident alien) seller of US real
estate unless the foreign person meets at
least one of several possible narrow exemptions.
B. Failure by a purchaser to withhold taxes from a foreign
person who sells US real estate may result in
the purchaser being liable for any federal income tax owed by
the foreign person.
C. Because interest paid on a loan to finance the construction of
real property during the construction

period (other than real estate that constitutes inventory) is for
the forbearance of money and not a
direct cost of constructing the building, it may be deducted
currently in the year it is incurred if you are
an accrual basis taxpayer.
D. While real estate is under construction, a taxpayer need not
capitalize, and may deduct as an
expense currently in the year incurred, research and
development costs, as well as advertising and
marketing expenses for the property.
Q U E S T I O N 6
1. Which of the following legal entities gives the taxpayer the
choice to be taxed either as a sole proprietorship,
partnership, C corporation, or an S corporation, depending on
the number of owners and tax elections made
by the taxpayer?
A. Limited Partnerhship
B. Limited Liability Company
C. General Partnership
D. Sole Proprietorship
E. Corporation

F. None of the above entities gives the taxpayer that many
choices.
Q U E S T I O N 7
A. While the selection of legal entity may have significant
consequences concerning legal liability, the
taxation of real estate is essentially similar regardless of what
kind of entity owns the real estate.
B. The right to deduct depreciation on real estate does not
depend entirely on who owns legal title to the
property.
C. Even though partnerships are required to file a separate
income tax return on Form 1065, as a general
rule, partnerships are not taxpaying entities.
D. A financial investment in real estate without transfer of
either possession or legal title may NOT
be sufficient to allow a taxpayer to claim a depreciation
deduction on that real estate.
3 points

Q U E S T I O N 8
1. Which of the following is NOT a tax disadvantage for a C
Corporation (regular corporation that has not made
an S Election) owning investment real estate?
A. Possible double taxation when the corporation sells
appreciated real estate at a gain.
B. Possible Assessment of Accumulated Earnings Tax.
C. The possibility of being classified as a personal holding
company and thus being subject to a penalty
tax on undistributed personal holding company income.
D. The inability of shareholders of the C corporation to deduct
rental losses against their personal
income.
E. All of the above are tax disadvantages of C corporations
owning investment real estate.
Q U E S T I O N 9
1. ALL OF THE FOLLOWING FACTORS ARE TAKEN INTO
ACCOUNT BY THE COURTS IN DETERMINING

WHETHER A TAXPAYER HAS MET THE BENEFITS AND
BURDENS OF OWNERSHIP TEST FOR REAL
PROPERTY EXCEPT:
A. Whether legal title has passed;
B. Whether an equity was acquired in the property;
C. Whether the taxpayer bears the risk of loss or damage to the
property;
D. Whether the taxpayer has a vested right of possession in the
property;
E. All of the above are factors considered by the Courts;
Q U E S T I O N 1 0
1. Which of the following statements regarding individual and
co-tenant ownership of real property is false?
A. Individual ownership is often the simplest and least costly
way to own and operate real estate.
B. Co-ownership of property by joint tenancy or tenants in
common is different from a partnership
because co-tenants cannot act on behalf of each other without

specific authorization by the other co-
tenant. Partners, on the other hand may bind all other partners
when one partner is acting with
respect to partnership property.
C. Individual ownership's main disadvantage is unlimited
liability arising out of ownership and operation
of the property. This liability can be mitigated by liability
insurance and careful management of the
property.
D. Joint tenants of real property do NOT become partners
merely because they carry on a trade or
business with the intent to share profits.
Q U E S T I O N 1 1
A. In order to form a general partnership for federal income tax
purposes, the partners must have
a written partnership agreement.
B. All limited partnerships must have at least one general
partner who is responsible for management

of the partnership and who is personally liable for the
obligations of the partnership.
C. The general partner of a limited partnership can be a
corporation.
D. Limited partners may lose their limited partner status (and
thus lose protection from legal liability in
excess of their capital contribution) if they participate in
management activities of the partnership
Q U E S T I O N 1 2
1. When a taxpayer contributes real estate or other property to a
partnership, the taxpayer must keep track of
his or her adjusted basis in the partnership interest that is
acquired. All of the following are important
tax reasons for taxpayers to account for their basis in their
partnership interests except which of the
following:
A. If a partner sells his partnership interest, the adjusted basis
must be known to calculate the taxable
gain or loss on the sale.
B. The partner's basis in the partnership interest is a ceiling on

the amount of losses that can pass
through to that partner in a given tax year.
C. The partner's basis in his partnership interest sets the limit
on the amount of distributions from the
partnership that partner may receive in a given tax year without
creating a taxable event.
D. A partner's basis in his partnership interest determines the
tax consequences to that partner when the
partnership is liquidated.
E. All of the above are important reasons for tracking basis in
the partnership interest
F. Only A, & B are important reasons for tracking basis in
partnership interests.
Q U E S T I O N 1 3
1. Please use the below facts to answer the next two quesrtions:
Partner X acquires a 50% interest in a real estate partnership by
contributing a parcel of property to the
partnership. At the date of the contribution, the parcel had a fair
market value of $50,000 and an adjusted
basis in the hands of the contributing partner of $20,000.
Based upon the above facts, what would Partner X's basis be in
his partnership interest immediately after

contributing the parcel of property?
A. $25,000
B. $20,000
C. $50,000
D. None of the above.
Q U E S T I O N 1 4
1. Using the facts given in the previous question, what is
partner X's basis in his partnership interest
(immediately after the contribution of the property) assuming
the parcel he contributed had a $10000
mortgage attached to it at the time Partner X contributed the
property to the partnership?
A. $15000
B. $20000
C. $25000

D. $55000
E. None of the above.
Q U E S T I O N 1 5
A. If an attorney drafts a comprehensive partnership agreement
in exchange for a 20% interest in his
client's real estate partnership rather than charge his usual legal
fee, because the lawyer's basis in his
services is zero, the lawyer's basis in his partnership interest is
also zero.
B. While generally a partner does not recognize income upon
contributing property to a partnership in
exchange for a partnership interest, there can be circumstances
where the new partner will recognize
gain when the property is contributed if there is a large
mortgage on the contributed property.
C. While in general a partner does not have a taxable event
upon receipt of a distribution from a
partnership, gain is recognized by a partner if a distribution of
money is received in excess of the
partner's basis in the partnership.

D. Generally, guaranteed payments to a partner are tax-
deductible by the partnership.
Q U E S T I O N 1 6
1. Which of the following is a legal or tax advantage a general
partnership has which an S corporation does not
have?
A. Free transferability of ownership without termination of the
existence of the entity.
B. Avoidance of double taxation-once at the entity level and
again at the individual owner level.
C. Protection from legal liability arising out of the ownership
and operation of the real estate by the
entity.
D. Because a partner gets basis in his partnership interest for
the partner's share of ALL partnership
liabilities (including those of third parties. banks, etc) the
partner often has larger basis in his
partnership interest than a similarly situated S corporation
shareholder who only gets basis for funds
the shareholder personally lent the corporation.Thus losses that

are passed through tend to be more
limited for an S corporation shareholder than a partner in a
partnership.
E. None of the above.
Q U E S T I O N 1 7
1. Which of the following is/are NOT requirement(s) to make
and maintain a successful S election?
A. The S corporation may have only one class of stock (common
stock).
B. The S corporation may not have more than 50 shareholders.
C. All shareholders must be either individuals, or certain
qualifying trusts of estates, or charitable
organizations.
D. The S corporation may not have any resident alien
shareholders.
E. B & D are both not correct requirements to make and
maintain an S election.

F. A through D are all valid requirements to make and maintain
a valid S election.
Q U E S T I O N 1 8
A. Limited Partnerships do not need to file anything with the
state to establish their legal
existence because a partnership may be established by a verbal
agreement among two or more
persons to share profits from a trade or business.
B. Distributions of appreciated property by a C corporation
generally produce immediate tax
consequences to both the C corporation and its shareholders.
C. Distributions of appreciated property by a partnership to its
partners generally are NOT an immediate
taxable event to either the partnership nor the partners because
the potential taxable gain is deferred
through the basis mechanism until such time as the partner
receiving the distribution sells the
property.
D. Partnerships are more flexible than S corporations when a
non-resident alien wants to own an interest

in the entity.
Q U E S T I O N 1 8
A. C corporations can be more flexible than S corporations if
the taxpayers wish to have both preferred
and common stock issued by the corporation.
B. A useful strategy for a C Corporation to avoid double
taxation is to pay its shareholders salary which
can be deducted against the corporation's profits.
C. C corporations can be more useful than S corporations if one
of the shareholders of
the corporation has to be a non-resident alien.
D. The disadvantage of double taxation of C corporations can be
mitigated to a some degree if the
corporation reinvests all its profits back into the business and
the corporation does not make any
distributions of appreciated property to its shareholders.
E. A The stock basis of a C corporation shareholder is increased
by corporate income.

Q U E S T I O N 1 9
1. Which of the following statements are false?
A. A corporation's S election is automatically terminated upon
the issuance of preferred stock.
B. A corporation's S election is automatically terminated if a
non-resident alien inadvertently becomes a
shareholder.
C. An S Corporation's shareholder agreement may give certain
shareholders certain items of income or
loss that are greater or less than their stock ownership
percentage in the corporation so long as they
have "substantial economic effect."
D. All of the above statements are true.
Q U E S T I O N 2 0

A. In order for a limited partnership to maintain limited liability
for its limited partners, the limited
partnership must have at least one general partner and the
partnership cannot have more than 100
partners.
B. S corporations recognize gain when distributions of
appreciated property are distributed to S
Corporation shareholders to the extent the fair market value of
the property exceeds the corporation's
adjusted basis in the property. This rule is identical to the rule
for C corporations.
C. There is no double taxation when an S corporation distributes
appreciated property to its
shareholders.
D. Both A & B are false.
Q U E S T I O N 2 1
A. Prepaid interest generally must be capitalized and amortized
rateably over the term of the loan with

exception of certain points paid on a taxpayer's principal
residence mortgage.
B. Interest paid on a loan used by the taxpayer to finance the
construction of a commercial building may
be deducted in the year paid by a cash basis taxpayer.
C. Investment interest does not include debt allocable to rental
real estate in which the taxpayer
materially participates or interest covered under the passive
activity loss rules.
D. Interest paid on loans to purchase vacant land held as an
investment is classified as investment
interest and is deductible only up to the amount of investment
income the taxpayer has in the current
year.
Q U E S T I O N 2 2
A. Deductibility of interest paid in a rental real estate activity is
often limited by the passive activity loss
rules.
B. An accrual basis taxpayer who borrowed funds for a trade or

business from a related party cash-basis
taxpayer may deduct interest on that loan when it is incurred.
C. The below-market rate loan rules are designed to
recharacterize loans between related parties in
accordance with their true nature as an arms-length transaction.
D. Below-market rate loans are deemed to have paid the lender
"forgone interest" which the lender must
report as income even though no interest was actually formally
collected by the lender.
Q U E S T I O N 2 3
1. Which of the following are considered below-market rate
loans requiring the calculation of forgone interest
that must be reported as interest income by the lender?
A. Demand Loans between a corporation and its sole
shareholder.
B. Gift loans made between family members and other persons
motivated by affection.
C. Loans made between an employer and employee in

connection with the performance of services by
the employee to the employer.
D. Only A & B above are below-market rate loans.requiring the
calculation of forgone interest.
E. A, B, & C are ALL below-market rate loans requiring the
calculation of forgone interest.
F. There is no such thing as "forgone interest" in the tax code.
Q U E S T I O N 2 4
1. Please fill in the amount (number) for your answer without
dollar signs or punctuations of any kind! Please
use these facts to answer the next 2 questions:
John is a 50% shareholder of an S corporation that owns rental
real estate that generated a $30000 loss for
the current tax year. The S corporation paid $90000 for the
property it purchased. The corporation financed
its purchase by John paying $1000 for his stock and lending the
corporation $9000 from John's personal
funds. The corporation borrowed $80000 from Bank of America
which John guaranteed so the bank would
lend the corporation the money. Thus the corporation collected
$90000 total cash to buy the property (10K
from John and 80k from the bank). The $30000 loss was
financed by the other shareholder lending the
corporation the money it needed to pay the business expenses.
How much can John deduct in this tax year as his pass-thru of
loss from this S corporaation?

Q U E S T I O N 3 4
1. Using the same facts as the previous question except John is
a 50% partner in a partnership and John paid
$10000 cash for his partnership interest. How much loss would
pass through to John as a partner in this tax
year?
QUESTION 1QUESTION 2QUESTION 3QUESTION
4QUESTION 5QUESTION 6QUESTION 7QUESTION
23QUESTION 24QUESTION 34

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