Crude Oil Prices between 1985 and 1994 Article Analysis Assignment

Crude Oil Prices between 1985 and 1994 Article Analysis - Assignment Example The authors point out that over time, competitive forces have caused a greater variance in the prices of oil in world oil markets even with the market arrangements brought by OPEC or by international oil companies. They agree with other authors such as Claudio Morana who states that both direct and indirect effects that came about because of consumption matters and technologies led to oil price volatilities (Morana, 2012, p. 2). Hence, the authors assert that between 1985 and 1994 there was a volatility in the price of oil as well as other non-oil commodities The two authors divided the article into six major parts. In the introduction, the authors introduce the trends in the volatility of the oil prices, the oil price shocks and the forces behind the volatility of the prices. In the introduction, the authors bring in a very important argument stating that the way competitive forces lead to an upsurge in oil prices, so do the factors that determine the availability and price of oil parallel the factors that determine other traded commodities (Institute for the 21st Century Energy, 2012, p. 2). In the next section titled ‘background and motivation,’ the authors look at the years before the 1985-1994 period and the manner in which oil prices were handled. The authors look at the failure of the major oil companies to set oil prices that led to the emergence of OPEC as the ultimate price determinant. They also look at the price of oil going into the 1980s period when OPEC was weakened by market forces in determining the price of oils. They point out 1983 as the most significant year when the transition to market forces happened and saw the creation of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

Can a solution to persistent conflict in the eastern DRC be found Essay - 1

Can a solution to persistent conflict in the eastern DRC be found through addressing 'local antagonisms' and 'local grievances', as Severine Autesserre suggests - Essay Example Instead of seeking long term solutions, Autesserre (2008) argues, these peace finders have only been making temporary peace trials after which conflicts emerge again. Their role has been to treat the wounds but not focusing on terminating the causative agents once and for all. Autesserre (2008), after providing a comprehensive history of wars and conflicts in the Eastern Provinces of Congo, suggests that permanent solutions can only be found if local antagonisms and grievances are addressed. Autesserre brings forward the view that those intervening have mistaken locally triggered turbulence as a national and or international issue whereof only humanitarian interventions for temporary healing of the casualties have been imposed. This paper attempts to argue in line Autesserre’s standing. The discussion critically addresses the nature of the problem in Congo – as explained by various authors – to estimate the truth in Autesserre’s suggestions. Later, the study defines what exactly the government of Congo needs to ensure local issues – as raised by Autesserre (2008) – are successful tools in pacifying Eastern Congo. The arguments are made in realization that, anyhow, there must be some solution, a unique solution (Yenyi, 2010). In the previous efforts to bring peace in the Congo, there have been various challenges and mammoth spending but in the end, the war starts all over again. It is obvious there are roots to the intermittent animosity that keeps recurring, much to the loss of many lives on a daily basis, loss of properties, misappropriation of natural resources, and the general deterioration of humanity. Therefore, all indications point to the prevalence of speci fic causes of violence that have never been addressed, or at least the wrong approaches have been in use. So the problem is extraordinary and as so, it will call for extraordinary measures as suggested in Autesserre findings (2008). Certainly, Autesserre’s idea is appealing,

Is Globalisation A Good Thing For Development Politics Essay

Is Globalisation A Good Thing For Development Politics Essay Globalization: Developmental Boon or Bane? Years ago, globalization was the curious buzzword which was viewed with much optimism by much of the world, including the poor and underdeveloped nations. The merging of the worlds economies promised great opportunities for growth and development especially for Third World economies. Today, there are two prevailing sentiments on globalization: either that globalization has resulted to prosperity for the poor nations or that it has resulted to the prosperity of the rich at expense of the worlds poor (Irogbe, 2005). This paper posits that while globalization have provided a range of benefits for underdeveloped nations, the wheels of globalization has led to the deterioration of national economies, marginalization of the South, cultural homogenization, and intensified international migration. Main Features of Globalization Globalization is a complex process which has many facets: economic, political and cultural. To understand this more concretely, discussed are the main features of globalization from the perspective of the developing world and how it is concretely manifested. Looking at globalization from a Third World lens is crucial to our understanding of it (Yotopoulous Romano, 2007). This is because, when viewed from the perspective of the First World, it is easy to appreciate the obvious benefits of globalization. For instance, globalization has enabled Americans to get hold of a wide range of products and services from all over the world. The margining of the worlds economies have allowed us to enjoy goods previously inaccessible to us because of high cost: for instance, fruits such as pineapples, bananas, and mangoes that is not homegrown in the United States. We can listen to world music, Africa, Jamaican, Latin American, and Arabic rhythms through our iPod all day long. What is not clearly visible to us is how the wheels of globalization impact the farmer in Southeast Asia, the coffee growers in Latin America, and the agricultural workers in Africa. Economic integration While faster interconnected through advanced technology and transportation is the most popular idea about globalization, globalization is a fundamentally economic phenomenon. The economic promise of free trade and free competition was supposedly designed to help Third World economies to gain market access previously impossible to penetrate (Lechner Boli, 2004). This has been true. Underdeveloped countries have been able to export their local products to developed markets unlike in the past (Sen, 2000). However, the bigger picture suggests because of the inherent asymmetries of the worlds economies, globalization also leads to asymmetrical development benefitting the rich countries more than the poor (Yotopoulous Romano, 2007). Economic integration through the merging of the global economies takes on three primary forms: liberalization, privatization, and deregulation (Benyon Dunkerley, 2000). Liberalization is the downgrading of the social goals of national development, combined with the upgrading of participation in the world market (McMichael, 2004, p. 158). This is achieved by reducing and eventually removing the barriers to flow of goods, capital, and services among countries, e.g. the removal of tariffs on agricultural products such as corn, rice, or beef. Deregulation means the reduction of the reduction of the role of governments in regulating trade and production and in providing services (Yotopoulos Romano, 2007). It adheres to the belief that the market is the most efficient and effective determinant of what should be produced and what would be consumed. Privatization in its purest sense means divestiture of state-owned enterprises or SOEs (McMichael, 2004). What used to be an ideological battl e between big government/welfare states and more marketless state has moved into the mainstream economic development debate under the guise of sound economic management and good governance (Benyon Dunkerley, 2000, p. 45). A deregulated market freed from the visible hand of government is the most efficient, less burdensome system that will result in economic progress through foreign investments, so goes the argument. Economic pragmatism and expediency are the main motives for privatizing today, driven mainly by balance-of-payment imperatives and the need to shift the burden of development from the public to the private sector (Leeds, 1990). To drive these three key strategies of economic globalization, two main institutions are responsible: the worlds transnational corporations (TNCs) and the triumvirate of public international financial institutions (Buckman, 2004). The global TNCs hold tremendous influence in global trade because it has control over investment, employment, and trading decisions which surpass the decision-making power of most developing countries. The triumvirate of the the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) act as a global overseer of the processes of economic globalization (Benyon Dunkerley, 2000). In theory, the triumvirate could be held accountable by the worlds governments but in practice, it has become a major global bureaucracy wielding enormous, largely unaccountable influence (Buckman, 2004, p. 87). The global privatization network includes multilateral and bilateral lenders, large MNCs, merchant banks, stockbrokers, accounts and manageme nt consultants, legal firms, marketing, specialist consultants, and think tanks (Leeds, 1990). The TNCs control the lions share of the world trade. The strongest among them, act more cohesively, in close cooperation with their respective governments, to assault or defend markets (Bello, 1997, p. 5). Hence, globalization also means the most intense competition even among industrialized economies. For instance, the United Sates and the business interests it represents stands to gain the most from globalization, which is why it has tried to dominate both the GATT-WTO and the APEC (Benyon Dunkerley, 2000). While imposing unilateral measures to protect its own market, the US is trying to prevent other countries from acting in the same way by invoking the principles of free trade. On another plane, many Northern governments, despite the neoliberal ideology of reducing the role of the state in economic matters, still heavily subsidize their agricultural products. These then become very ch eap and when dumped into the markets of developing countries, local products cannot compete. This explains why farmers in Chile, Latin America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia have experienced destruction of their local economies such as in textile, transport, and even agriculture (Bello, 1997; McMichael, 2004). Political marginalization Globalization has also resulted to the political asymmetries leading to the marginalization of the South. Globalization has proceeded under the premise that modernization is the key towards the genuine development of the Third World. However, the dependency theory of development suggests that modernization will only lead to increasing domination of the major world economic players to the detriment of the poor nations. The basic decisions in global trade are still influenced by the dominant countries, leaving dependent nations with few choices because the parameters have already been set by the former (Willis, 2005). It is in the South where globalization as a political process really reduces the role of the nation state in terms of deciding the direction of development through macro-economic policies. Parallel to this is the qualitative strengthening of the institutions of global economic governance (Bello, 1997, p. 8). The main mechanism for this has been the debt trap, whereby highly indebted countries are compelled to undergo structural adjustment programs (SAPs) in exchange for more loans. The SAPs comes in the benign form of development loans from the World Bank but with them come harsh conditions or impositions on the developing nations to abandon crucial social services and domestic programs that benefit their local population. SAPs include having governments abandon health services, education, and environmental programs which are not profitable and hence, cannot be used to replay World Bank and IMF loans and interest. Eventually, this leaves countries solely dependent on the market as we ll as pricing systems well beyond their control. Essentially, the political process of globalization renders countries powerless over the fate of their national economies (Bello, 1997). Cultural homogenization Globalization leads to a borderless world, one which erases political and geographical borders, essentially making countries operate and act similarly. As a consequence, culture is also gradually being erased as the development of a global culture emerges (Norberg, 2003). Because of globalization, local products, cultures, and services disappear into this global culture one that is shaped and defined by the worlds economic and political powers. Critics have referred to this phenomenon as the McDonaldization of the world (Buckman, 2004). Globalization has also penetrated the sphere of culture and ideology. Cultural influences from the North are transmitted through the media whose impact is intensified by the spread of television, the use of the World Wide Web, computer products, and other technologies (Cohen Kennedy, 2007). The process of cultural homogenization or the fashioning of one global culture is presently ongoing. Aside from creating an insipid culture, it has also forced people to redefine their lives to promote this global culture. In order to make Nike shoes, designer clothing, and computers, poor Filipino and Indonesia farmers are forced to abandon their way of life to provide these consumer goods (Irogbe, 2005). Moreover, the environment is being degraded in order to provide room for giant farms for TNCs and ancestral lands of the indigenous peoples of the world are being plundered by mining TNCs (Bello, 1997). While the Internet has provided wider democratic space and a venue for greater cultural exc hange, the increasing homogenization of culture through the Internet has also created greater insecurity (Cohen Kennedy, 2007). International migration Globalization also means the waves of migration in search of better earning opportunities. With the relative ease in transportation and communication, the number of international migrants has approached staggering levels (Lechner Boli, 2004). Aside from the migration of people, jobs have also been shipped off to Third World economies a contentious issue for First World nations because industries are slowly dying in the latter because business processes are outsources to countries like India, the Philippines, and China. This has created tensions among the workers of the First World countries (Bello, 1997). Moreover, an increasing concern of globalization is the globalization of the sex trade. Women and girls are being trafficked across national borders for the purpose of prostitution (Irogbe, 2005). Conclusion Globalization has several implications on the world and not all of them are negative. It has been an important engine of growth for many poor countries (Norberg, 2003; Sen, 2000). Access to trade and foreign markets, more democratic structures of communication through technology, are some of its benefits. Nonetheless, as a result of intense competition of the economies and the inherently asymmetrical political and economic conditions of countries, the economic development now rest on the decision-making powers of a few nations, leaving poor countries dependent.

Kurt Vonnegut - The Man and His Work :: Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut – The Man and His Work One of the best, most valuable aspects of reading multiple works by the same author is getting to know the author as a person. People don't identify with Gregor Samsa; they identify with Kafka. Witness the love exhibited by the many fans of Hemingway, a love for both the texts and the drama of the man. It's like that for me with Kurt Vonnegut, but it strikes me that he pulls it off in an entirely different way. Kafka's work is a reaction to his mental anguish, which is kind of like Vonnegut, who has dealt with the bulk of his personal hardships throughout his career, but those hardships are not his sole motivation. And, while he's lead an interesting life, it doesn't seem nearly as dramatic or romantic as Hemingway's. Plus, Vonnegut is much more overt than either of the two about his authorial involvement in his work. But what really forces Vonnegut to impose his presence on the text is his complete inability to remove himself at all from the act of communication at the core of any work of literature. He revels in that involvement. He has mentioned his desire, what he implies is a universal need of all human beings, for some "soul-deep fun." He uses this term as a synonym for greatness. And this has lead to some nasty comments in fiction workshops about stories that I've written: complaints of flat characters, cartoonish plotlines, non-directed criticism, overall pessimism and over-sentimentality for all things lowbrow. Needless to say, sometimes I feel, to varying degrees of pretension, like Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana to Kurt Vonnegut, Sr. and Edith Lieber Vonnegut. He had an older brother named Bernard and an older sister named Alice. Kurt, Sr. was a well-known architect in the city and Edith was the daughter of a wealthy local family. The Vonneguts had been in Indianapolis for several generations, and were well-off, respected members of the community. Unlike the characters in most of his books, Vonnegut's early childhood was extremely privileged. It wasn't until the stock market crash of 1929 that he experienced the type of life that he would go on to write about in the future: the middle Middle Class. This was devastating to his family. According to Understanding Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. the depression moved in and made itself at home in the Vonnegut household.

English Placement Essay

Nearly 20 years ago, Raymond received severe head trauma from a car accident which left IM in a coma for nearly a month. Eventually, Raymond recovered but he had difficulty, especially with his memory. Harriet becomes Raymond primary caregiver. Harrier's health began to decline over the years eventually suffering a stroke and a broken hip requiring her placement in skilled nursing home. The family found themselves trying to determine what arrangements their mother had made for her care as well as Raymond.They found that she neglected to address any of their affairs; no powers of attorney, no living wills, no wills and very small nest egg. It was to long after Harriet placement in the home that Raymond is placed the dementia ward of the same facility as Harriet. Because of the lack of planning Raymond son had to be declared is father's legal guardian by the Courts. Although the nursing home claimed the fourth floor was a dementia unit, it was little more than a limited access skilled nursing unit. Patients were permitted to wander the ward with little or no supervision.The family was not happy about the situation but with limited financial resources there was no choice. On February 28th, 2011, Raymond was wandering the halls of the unit, one can only surmise what occurred next. According to a subsequent state investigation, the wing was left unsupervised. An amputee patient fell out of his wheelchair. A life member of the volunteer fire department Raymond heard the wonder alarm sounding and intuitively he attempted open the large nutritional door to the patient's room.The patient was lying on the floor directly behind the door. The door would not open, so Raymond continued to push on the doors trying to be of assistance. Eventually, the staff heard the alarm and responded to find Raymond in the hall and the patient on the floor with head trauma. After the incident, the family received a call from the nursing home stating that Raymond need to go to the hospital p sychiatric unit. The family was not alarmed as this had happened a few times before.The home failed to elaborate. The morning news told the story of an incident of a dementia patient assaulting another. The following evening the news was of a dementia patient being charged with aggravated assault with the District Attorney office considering homicide charges. The family had to obtain a criminal attorney for Raymond, who had already been declared legal incompetent by the courts. It seems the nursing home had not mentioned that to the charging officer or the District Attorney's office.They also had to obtain a civil attorney because the victim's family had indicated they were going to sue all the parties involved. Raymond could be of little help in his defense and became confused easily reverting to his earliest memories. Investigations were being conducted into the events that led to this tragedy. The district attorney's office hired a forensic psychiatrist to determine if Raymond wa s competent and the state department of public welfare was conducting its own investigation. Meanwhile, being unified too hospital psychiatric unit Raymond health declined quickly.He refused to feed himself and became frustrated if others offer to feed himself; a natural progression of dementia. Because of Raymond overall health a feeding tube was rejected by the family. On the evening of April 30, 2011, Raymond died alone in the same hospital as his victim had two months earlier. The following day the district attorney's office stated that Raymond would not have been charged with any criminal charges. Six weeks later the nursing home suffered one of the largest fine in the history of the State as well as being placed on a provisional license.

Generalization: Black People and Young Men Essay

In daily life, you can find out man many generalization easily; such as, when you heard about crime, you immediately think of the drunken, unemployed, color people.. etc, or when you heard about Havard’s student, words describing like very smart, creative, sucess in life easily or something like that glance through your mind. In the same way, when you heard people depend on welfare, you immediately think that they are lazy, unemployed, have many children, never try to get any job and they are black people. However, do you think generalizations like above always right? Absolutely not. In my opinion, each person has each generalization, sometimes genelizations is similiar, but sometimes not. Wrong genelizations can be cause racism or unfair in life. To begin with an Gladwell’s article, because he mention generalization in one of his articles. In â€Å"Troublemakers†, Gladwell argues that generalization is not easy, you must know exactly what is going on. Because of the attacks of pitt bull, it was banned by the Ontario goverment. They said that pitt bulls is very dangerous, can bite someone without warning signs, then, they decided banned it. In the same case with pitt bull, he gave us some example about young men driver always higher charges or doctors think that midle-ages easily get heart attack. In the same article, he also gave us example about terrorism. He said terrorist in our mind is totally different in real. We don’t know how a terrorists look like; can be a Arab men, can be a young men, can be black people, can be white people, can be lady, also can be a old men. That’s why, the goverment and the police, specific is New York Police Department have trouble in sketching terrorist’s prolife. However, when NYPD use right generalization to make decrease crime in city. Back to the pitt bull, as we know, not all pitt bull are killer, moreover, dogs are good or bad also depend on owner. Most of case was attacked by pitt bull, the owner is often neglectful. However, it is still prohibited. Therefore, Gladwell said that is wrong generalization. As shown above, generalization is not always right. In a welfare statistics 2012, total government spending on welfare annually (not including food stamps or unemployment): $131. 9 billion. This number is increasing every year. Besides, the global economics downturn, this number is very serious. That’s why, most of americans don’t like people who depend on welfare too much. Americans thought that it was one of cause badly affecting in life today. In the same statistic was shown above, percent of recipients who are black: 39. 8 %, this’s highest percent. Next, base on those numbers, you are thinking that black people depend on goverment so much and they seem never try to getting job. Moreover, most of drunken and crime you can see everyday on the street are also black. In the same case, when you go to department of welfare center, you can easily realize that the number of black people is more than all. Now, you begin to default on your thinking that black people are lazy, drunken, crime and depend on welfare so much. Meanwhile, how we know they never try to find a job or try to do something? We don’t know. We also don’t know what is going on their life. They can really have more troubles than white, because of the racism. I have a small story, that’s observation. I’m living Northeast Phillies. Oneday, when I was from home to school, I saw some homeless man on the way to school, I counted five people and in which just have one black people. Now, where is problem? I know, this’s just small story and it can’t generalize anything obvious. However, I think it enough for we look back at own conclusion. Fact that blacks depend on welfare more than others, don’t they? When we heard about black people, we immediately think of crime, drunken†¦ And, thinking made us don’t want to hire them. Clearly, they’ll unemployed. Next, they must depend on welfare to maintain life. Things like a circle and has no end. Until we change our thinking about them and giving them more opportunities, they are still depend on welfare. Not all black people depend on welfare, also not all pitt bull are killers. Finally, genaralization is really important and need shrewdness. You must observation everything what is happening around problems. Because a wrong genaralization can can lead to unnecessary mistakes.