...President Barack Hussein Obama President Barack Obama is one of the most exciting presidential election candidates in many years. It was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago. President Obama is a historical figure in American History because, he became the first successful African-American to become President, and he impacted society in a positive way. Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961, to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. His parents were divorced when he was only two and the absence of his father greatly affected him. After high school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science. He then entered Harvard Law School in 1988. The next year, he met Michelle Robinson, an associate at Sidley & Austin law firm in Chicago. On October 3, 1992, he and Michelle were married. They moved to Kenwood, on Chicago's South Side, and welcomed two daughters: Malia born 1998 and Sasha born 2001. In February 2007, Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He was locked in a tight battle with former first lady and then, U.S. Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton. On June 3, 2008, however, Obama became the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party...
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...rally behind the tion spokesmen and press conduits are claiming that Car ter's program is really "a more developed version" of Nixon's energy policies. The key difference now, goes the Carter Administration's anti-energy policy, Administra Nixon officially ended the method of market demand pro rating of the federal off-shore leases, which immediately opened up the offshore areas for massive exploration and production. The independents had publicly been demand ing this action; Atlantic Richfield and Phillips Petroleum had just testified to the Senate Interior Committee on the dependents with new oil reserves. Nixon backed up his action with an Interior Department report which estima. ted potential offshore reserves of oil at 200 billion barrels and 850 trillion cubic feet of gas. Such a large amount of oil in the hands of the indepen dents threatened Rockefeller control over oil supplies, as immediately after Nixon's action, well as threatening to bring down world prices. Almost environmentalist necessity of expanding offshore drilling to provide the in I line, is that Carter, an able strong leader, will be able to implement the program that the incompetent, crooked Nixion could not. James Schlesinger's assistants are leaking to reporters that "President Carter's energy pro gram is the product of intense secretive work by a tight circle of officials who drew heavily on ideas and statisti strations," according to the April 23 Washington Post. cal models inherited from...
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...GCC to be hit if US debt ceiling crisis worsens Monday, 14 October 2013 DOHA: The economic consequences could be dire for the GCC states if political leaders in the US fail to agree on lifting their government’s debt ceiling by Thursday, economists here warn. For one, the oil-rich GCC states have massive investments in the US, the currencies of most of them are pegged to the dollar, and more importantly, a debt crisis in the US would likely have a disastrous impact on the world oil market. “A continuing debt ceiling crisis in the US would hit China hard, and this would have a cascading effect on the rising Asian economies,” said celebrated financial expert Abdullah Al Khater. Since the GCC states are dependent on revenues from oil and gas, the impact on Asian economies would mean that GCC oil and gas exports would suffer hugely, Al Khater told The Peninsula yesterday. Recalling the days of oil embargo in 1973, he said the GCC economies suffered immensely then as they posted huge budget deficits. “If the US fails to lift the debt ceiling, we would be entering a phase of uncertainties and immense difficulties.” When told about a recent Washington Post report that put the GCC’s exposure to the US at $257.7bn, Al Khater said that was a very conservative estimate. “I expect the figure to be much higher.” He said if one took into consideration the assets of the sovereign wealth funds of the GCC states as a whole, it would be in hundreds of billions of dollars. And much of...
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...macroeconomic impacts of oil price shocks 1.4.1 A short history of a controversial topic Since the 1973 OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil embargo, the role of rapid, unanticipated increases in oil prices has been a topic of intense interest, among both economists and the lay public. Considering the magnitude of widespread national recessions during the 1970s, the controversy surrounding research on the macroeconomics of oil price shocks may seem surprising: why would anyone doubt the capacity of oil price shocks to cause the major movements in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) which have been observed in so many countries? Possibly most important in fueling the controversy is the small share of GDP that oil and its close substitutes have comprised in most economies: 1.5% to 3% prior to the 1973 episode. Experienced macroeconomists doubted that even a sizeable shock to such a small part of the economy could have the observed effects. Second, the 1973 episode itself was not a clean experiment because a number of other major factors were emerging at the same time. The world economy was just getting off the post-Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate regime. A number of countries, including the United States, was teetering on the brink of recession at the time of the 1973 shock; in the United States in particular, monetary policy tightened right around the time of the 1973 shock. Separating these effects and deciding the role of oil price shocks in...
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...production of oil. After the oil embargo of 1973, when oil prices were high, the king-dom's trade surplus rose, increasing steadily until 1978. This trend continued after the Iranian revolution of 1979 when oil prices rose to new levels. Between 1978 and 1981 Saudi Arabia's trade surplus doubled, reaching a peak of US$82.5 billion. Trade (expressed in billions of US$): Saudi Arabia Exports Imports 1975 29.682 4.213 1980 109.083 30.166 1985 27.481 23.622 1990 44.417 24.069 1995 50.040 28.091 1998 N/A N/A SOURCE: International Monetary Fund. International Financial Statistics Yearbook 1999. The surplus declined steadily throughout the 1980s as export volume diminished and oil prices fell. By 1985, the balance of trade had fallen to just US$7 billion. In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, prompting the United Nations to place an embargo on Iraqi oil. The cut in supply sent prices back up, and as Saudi Arabia heightened production to meet world demand (from 5.1 million b/d in 1989 to 8.2 million b/d in 1991), export revenues increased and the trade surplus rose once again. In 1996, export revenues exceeded import expenditures by US$35.3 billion. In 1998, the world economy slowed. At the same time, oil production by both OPEC and non-OPEC members increased. The higher production levels coupled with lowered demand caused the price of oil to fall by almost US$7/barrel, from US$19.12/barrel in 1997 to US$12.76/barrel in 1998. In Saudi Arabia, oil receipts...
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...Instruction on the Group Project Principles of Management Each project group is expected to collectively write a case report that focuses on an ethical issue faced by a real-life organization, a specific industry, or a business profession. Following is a suggested outline for the case written by your group: I) Background Information (e.g., corporate history) II) The Central Ethical Dilemma(s) III) Alternative Ways to Deal With the Ethical Dilemma(s) IV) Possible Consequences and Implications of Alternative Solutions V) Ethical Theories That Are Applicable to This Case VI) Key Questions for Case Study When writing this case report, you are encouraged to gather as much relevant information as possible from various online and offline data sources. However, all the information used in your case analysis must be properly cited in the main body of your report, including the author name(s) and publishing date/year, if available, and the detailed citations must be included in the References section. Your case report will be graded on the following criteria: 1) Proper application of ethical theories 2) Quality of writing (readability, originality, grammatical correctness, etc.) 3) Breadth of information utilized (at least 20 different articles or books need be cited and actually used in writing this case) 4) Demonstrated critical thinking skills 5) Robust logical reasoning 6) Comprehensive data analysis (i.e. taking into...
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...Petroleum refers to the hydrocarbon compounds of crude oil and natural gas that are found in the underground rock formations Reservoirs are generally thousands of feet below the surface and are made up of the remains of small marine plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Petroleum may also seep to the earth’s surface along fault lines and cracks Petroleum refers to both crude oil and natural gas Modern uses of petroleum and its byproducts include: Transportation fuels (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and compresses natural gas) Heating Fuels (Propane, heating oil and natural gas) Electric Generation fuels such as natural gas and fuel oil Manufactured products such as plastics and building materials. Crude oil refers to unrefined hydrocarbon mixtures produced from underground reservoirs that are liquid at atmospheric pressure and temperature Classified as either light or heavy depending on the density of the mixture Density is measured in API gravity Heavy crude oil has more of the longer, larger hydrocarbon molecules (greater density) Difficult to produce and transport to market; more expensive to process; weighs more but sells for less Natural Gas refers to hydrocarbon mixtures that are NOT liquid but gaseous at normal atmospheric pressure and temperature. Natural Gas is largely methane, which is a clear, odorless gas. It has the smallest natural hydrocarbon molecule (CH4). Natural Gas mare also contain some of the larger hydrocarbon molecules commonly...
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...impact on GDP and on the masses. Why are these problems visible in a country like Kenya? Because so many other problem are putting multiplier times negative impact on GDP and other macro economic variables such as inflation. Oil and other petroleum products are scarce commodities in the world. Like prices of other commodities the price of crude oil experiences wide price swings in times of shortage or oversupply. The crude oil price cycle may extend over several years responding to changes in demand as well as OPEC and non-OPEC supply. Throughout much of the twentieth century, the price of U.S. petroleum was heavily regulated through production or price controls. In the post World War II era, U.S. oil prices at the wellhead averaged $28.52 per barrel adjusted for inflation to 2010 dollars. In the absence of price controls, the U.S. price would have tracked the world price averaging near $30.54. Over the same post war period, the median for the domestic and the adjusted world price of crude oil was $20.53 in 2010 prices. Adjusted for inflation, from 1947 to 2010 oil prices only exceeded $20.53 per barrel 50 percent of the time. (See note in the box on right.) Until March 28, 2000 when OPEC adopted the $22-$28 price band for the OPEC basket of crude, real oil prices...
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...volatility in the Global oil and gas market 1.Introduction “Oil is the life blood of civilization. It fuels the vast majority of the world’s mechanized transportation equipment – automobiles, trucks, trains ships, farm equipment, the military, etc. oil is also the primary feedstock for many of the chemicals that are essential to modern life”(Hirsch et al. 2005:2). It can be said that; there cannot be economic growth without oil, therefore oil is crucial to the world economy, and change in prices would definitely have a knock on effect on the world economy, the oil market is complex, very volatile and it’s capital intensive (Sharma 1998:2). “Oil Prices have exhibited unprecedented volatility in recent months , prices rose from 2004 to historic highs in mid -2008 and only to fall in the last four months of 2008” (kojima 2009:9). Economic growth in the United States of America (USA) and the emerging new markets between 2004 and 2008 gave rise to demand for oil and high-rise in the price of oil. This high volatility of prices has led governments and institutions to intervene in the oil market. This coursework aims at showing the impact of oil price volatility in the global market; it also examines the various roles played by governments, financial institutions and The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in stabilizing and managing the risk, and the remote causes of price volatility. Government intervention in the oil and gas market is due to...
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......................................................................................... 5 B. 1973 oil crisis............................................................................................................................................... 5 C. 2000s Energy Crisis................................................................................................................................... 7 II. III. IV. V. PRESENT COMPETITIVENESS OF BIOETHANOL ............................................................................................ 7 OTHER ALTERNATIVE FUELS ..................................................................................................................... 11 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 12 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................... 13 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Historical inflation adjusted oil price per barrel, (Brent equivalent in 2011$), based on amounts shown in BP’s 2012 Statistical Review of World Energy (taken from High-Priced Fuel Syndrome 2012) ....................................................................................................................... 4 Supply and Demand Curve before the 1973 oil...
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...has moved fast or accelerated during the late 1990’s, because of the building of the important overseas companies and all the mergers between the companies. The specialists would to have indicated that the expansion of the foreign commerce in the auto industry, and it dates back to the transfer of Ford Motor Company’s mass production from the U.S. to Western Europe and Japan that followed both World Wars (Business & Economics Research Advisor, Modern Global Automobile Industry, 2004). There was a significant growth in the production of Japanese and German Markets. Another important to the industrial globalization is the export of the fuel efficient cars from Japan to the United States, the reason for this is because of the oil embargo from 1973 to 1974 (Business & Economics Research Advisor, Modern Global Automobile Industry, 2004). There are a number of things that can be identified by looking at the global automotive market. They are, Global Market Dynamics, Establishment of Global Alliances – U.S. Automakers, and Industry Consolidation. There are also three tiers to consider, first tier company mergers –Volkswagen-Lamborghini, BMW-Rolls Royce; the second tier company mergers, Chrysler-Mercedes Benz; Renault-Nissan-Fiat and the third tier company mergers, Mazda-Mitsubishi; Kia-Volvo1974 (Business & Economics Research Advisor, Modern Global Automobile Industry, 2004). In the 21st century the UAW has been working hard to aid the auto industry to rebound and...
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...absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as Islamic. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam. Saudi Arabia has the world's second largest oil reserves which are concentrated largely in the Eastern Province and oil accounts for more than 95% of exports and 70% of government revenue. This facilitates the creation of a welfare state although the share of the non-oil economy is growing recently. It has also the world's sixth largest natural gas reserves. The new kingdom was one of the poorest countries in the world, reliant on limited agriculture and pilgrimage revenues.However, in 1938 vast reserves of oil were discovered in the Al-Hasa region along the coast of the Persian Gulf and full-scale development of the oil fields began in 1941. Oil provided Saudi Arabia with economic prosperity and substantial political leverage internationally. Cultural life rapidly developed, primarily in the Hejaz, which was the center for newspapers and radio. But the large influx of foreigners to work in the oil...
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...INDEPTH: OIL The price of oil - in context CBC News Online | April 18, 2006 Oil is sold in barrels - it's the same unit of measure used to sell whisky. A barrel of oil - or whisky - contains 159 litres. The price of a barrel of oil has been testing new highs since it pushed through $50 a barrel in September 2004 - and pushed gasoline prices well beyond $1 a litre in the summer of 2005. But how high are prices like that, historically speaking? Turns out these records may not be records, after all. Oil prices were stable for most of the 100 years before 1973 at well under $5 a barrel. Expressed in today's dollars (all figures in U.S. dollars), the price was closer to $10 a barrel, hitting highs of about $15 and lows close to $8. Even as the world economy boomed in the decades following the Second World War, prices remained fairly stable. That's mainly because the United States held most of the clout in the oil industry - and the U.S. government regulated the price of oil. From 1958 to 1970, prices were stable at about $3 per barrel, but in real terms the price of crude oil declined from above $15 to below $12 per barrel. The decline in the price of crude when adjusted for inflation was further exacerbated in 1971 and 1972 by the weakness of the U.S. dollar. But by the early 1970s, that changed. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had become a force and in 1973, the first major oil shock hit the world as Arab nations refused to sell to countries that...
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...Unemployment in the United States Unemployment is something that has been problematic in the United States for over a hundred years. Throughout the last century the United States has seen Unemployment rates that have been high as well as rates that have been low. During the past two or three weeks I have been researching the topic beginning with October 29th, 1929, the start of the great depression, all the way until modern day. It has been an interesting few weeks and I’m excited to analyze everything that I have discovered. The Great Depression is considered to be the largest and longest lasting crash that the American economy has taken to date. The Great Depression really began during the summer of 1929. That summer American consumer spending began to fall, and this caused unsold product to gather. While this was occurring the prices of stock kept rising, and by October of 1929 the stock prices were unreasonably high. October 24th is known as black Thursday; on this day nearly 13 million shares were trades which scared the people of Wall Street. October 29th 1929 fell on a Tuesday that year. This was the day that the great depression truly started. Almost 16 million shares were traded on this day. It created a panic on Wall Street and soon after millions of investors lost all of their money. The loss of money in circulation caused consumer spending to drop, and this caused the supply of products to drop. Many companies went out of business, and those who didn’t lay off...
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...it’s shifting energy dynamics across the globe. (Bain & Company, 2013) In analyzing the differences between the natural gas markets in Asia, Europe and North America, each has a different market structure resulting from the degree of market maturity, the sources of supply, the dependence on imports and other geographical and political factors. (MIT, 2011) These regional markets set natural gas prices in different ways: 1. The U.S. has gas-on-gas competition and open access to pipeline transportation and manages risk through spot and derivatives markets. 2. The European market relies more heavily on long-term contracts with price terms based on a mix of competing fuels, e.g., fuel oil, and access to their pipeline is restricted; and 3. Asia uses crude oil as a benchmark for natural gas prices (News, n.d.) and favors long-term contracts; this structure has kept LNG prices in Europe and Asia high relative to other regions. (MIT, 2011) These market features, along with the availability of domestic natural gas resources and geopolitical interests, establish the boundary conditions for the development of global natural gas markets, at the same time that significant price disparities between regions create greater interest in such a market. (MIT, 2011) The US natural gas market is the most mature of the three, (MIT, 2011) aided by the recent shale explosion, the US now supplies their own demand and has become self-sufficient in natural...
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