Microeconocs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Microeconocs - Essay Example This "supply schedule" is usually represented by relationship between market price and amount of goods produced. On the other side, "demand is defined as the willingness and ability of a consumer to purchase a given product in a given frame of time" (Clasquin 24). This schedule represents the amount of goods that consumers are willing to purchase at different prices as long as everything else remains the same. While there are numberless different markets that vary from country to country, there are a few producers that find a demand throughout the world. One of these is the demand for oil, with almost all machines depending on the energy it provides. The production and consumption of oil makes for a perfect example of how supply and demand works. One of the largest and most well known oil producers is The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This organization ties together the biggest oil producing countries in the world including: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. "OPEC's influence on the market has been widely criticized. Several members of OPEC alarmed the world and triggered high inflation across both the developing and developed world when they used oil embargoes in the 1973s" (Clasquin 24). OPEC has weathered the ups and downs of supply and demand like no other producer has because the demand for oil in today's fluctuating market is constantly changing. With the worldwide economic crisis currently taking over many parts of the world, the demand for oil has been significantly reduced. "For years, the world's oil surplus was negligible. This year, OPEC's spare capacity is expected to surge to around four million barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Department. In 2009, global oil demand will fall by 800,000 barrels a day -- the sharpest retreat since the recession of the early 1980s, the Energy Department predicts" (King A.6). This sharp decline in demand can be directly linked to the pocketbooks of everyday citizens. A massive amount of the demand OPEC sees comes from everyday citizens needing oil to power their cars. Many of these citizens are losing jobs and feeling the crunch due to economic stress. They have less spending money and are sticking only to necessities. In this case, less spending money means less demand. For example, citizens have less money to spend on leisure activities which almost always require some kind of transportation to and from. It seems that people are driving only to and from work, sticking to their homes and surrounding neighborhoods in their time off. People can't afford to take vacations, depleting the demand of oil needed to operate airplanes, and an allover tightening of pocketbooks is restricting the amount of work needed to be done by the machinery using oil as a power fuel. Therefore, with all of these factors facing OPEC, they have "announced that the group's largest supply cut, --2.2 million barrels a day - after pledging to cut two million barrels a day in the autumn, when the slowdown began to take hold" (King A.6). Global economic stress has stalled OPEC actions along with signs ofa weakening energy demand. At the end of 2008 reports of crude oil stocks rising in cost and falling retail sales in the U.S. were driving oil prices down.

Scripts and Counterscripts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Scripts and Counterscripts - Essay Example The four distinct scripts merge into one dominant script evident throughout in the society, authorities and the press. This comprehensive script is widely acceptable; it is almost impossible to live without. They rule us every day and give a false sense of security, thus free of all threats. It promises false security, tells us that if we are safe then we are happy. Homelessness or residue of anger and insanity is fruits of war and destruction of the environment. This script challenges us via sales promotion, hearsays and ideologies that are pleasant to hear and affords us happiness. The safety illusion given to us by this script is deficient of critical reflection. He strongly states that although, they assure hums, safety and happiness, the scripts are dehumanizing leading people towards a false comfort zones. The scripts make us overlook the need to depend on the Creator and deny us true peace and personal satisfaction (Peter, 1976). He depicts the script as a complete failure, a stand he argues many people would not support. He adds that there is no happiness or safety attributable to the script and that more insecurity and unhappiness will arise from them. His closing remarks on the script are that, â€Å"the key to personal and spiritual wholeness lies in rejecting the script†. This article is a true representation of how to manipulate and indecisive human behavior. Through the use, of scripts and counter scripts, we are able to discern how humans react to different, influential factors. In the scripts, humans are victims of illusions of the world, which they totally believe to a point of even overlooking the true, reliable source of their help (explained in the elusive theory). I personally agree with Brueggemann, on his alternative script argument that, darned often we still are in crisis of enlightenment about the Creator. We shy off when expressing people’s thought about God acting in their midst for