Tuesday, October 22, 2019

List of Fantasy Themed Stage Plays

List of Fantasy Themed Stage Plays A quest begins! Dragons lurk in caves. Diabolic beasts wait around nearly every twist and turn of the trail. But, if the heroes are brave and loyal, a triumphant ending is in store. Fantasy has long since delighted young and old alike. Although this very visual genre offers a great many challenges to a director, it can be a very fulfilling experience to both the audience and the artists. The following plays are some of the most popular fantasy stories in the history of children’s literature. With the right elements, each of these stage adaptations can be transformed into a top-notch production. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe Many artistic mediums have brought the world of Narnia to life. Literature, radio, television, animation, and film have each interpreted C.S. Lewis’ work. Yet the stage play adaptation of this fantasy classic possesses immense charm and sincerity. Production Challenges: Lots of fantastical set pieces and imaginative costumes make this a difficult show to perform without an extravagant budget (or a very forgiving audience!) Production Advantages: This highly moral story of good versus evil offers a wide range of characters for actors of various ages. Performers get the rare opportunity of playing intelligent animals, enchanted creatures, and heroic children. Casting Advice: It’s a plus if the children can pull off a British accent. It’s an even bigger plus if they can reverently gasp â€Å"Aslan!† on a continual basis! Much of the believability depends on how the child actors respond to the magical creatures. If they are genuinely in awe, the audience will feel that same sense of wonder. Script available at Dramatic Publishing. The Hobbit Adapted by Edward Mast, this prequel to Lord of the Rings captures the essence of this magical quest- though it does skip a few parts of the book. J.R.R. Tolkien spins the wondrous tale of Bilbo Baggins, the unlikely hero who learns that there is more to life than relaxing in the Shire. The stage play is simple enough that it could be performed by junior high students. Yet, the themes are sophisticated enough to warrant a professional production. Production Challenges: The large cast consists almost entirely of male characters. If this is performed by a school or children’s theater, the many young actresses who audition may be disappointed to find themselves cast as a beard-clad dwarf! Production Advantages: The sets can consist of a number of fantasy forest and cave backdrops. The look can also be enhanced with a skilled lighting and sound designer. Casting Advice: With the right cast, this can be a fun play to use both child actors (as dwarves and hobbits) and adults (as Gandalf, Goblins, and Gollum). More faithful productions have cast adults in all parts, selecting shorter actors for the â€Å"vertically-challenged† characters. Find out more about this stage adaptation of The Reluctant Dragon So many fantasy stories end with a dragon being slain. Imaginary-animal activists will be happy to know that at least one show is sympathetic to the plight of these endangered magical beasts. Though a tale of fantasy, this version by Mary Hall Surface teaches a valuable lesson of the dangers of prejudice. Production Challenges: Some creative costuming is required to make the title character look dragon-like. Other than that, this is very easy to produce play. Production Advantages: The script is short, sweet, and to the point. It runs about sixty minutes and sports a small cast of eight players. Casting Advice: Much of the script contains dialogue befitting of medieval knights. Cast a regal sounding actor for the distinguished role of St. George. Script available at Anchorage Press Plays. Tuck Everlasting Not all fantasies contain wizards and monsters. Some of the best imaginary tales present a single magical element. In the case of Tuck Everlasting, a family drinks from a supernatural spring and attains eternal life, for better or for worse. Production Disadvantages: Mark Frattaroli’s adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s beloved novel is not yet available through publishing companies. However, since 1991, it has been performed at several regional theaters such as the Magic Theatre Company. Production Advantages: If a playhouse manages to get the rights to Tuck Everlasting, the Chicago Playworks company has created a very handy guide for drama teachers and students.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Best Summary and Analysis The Great Gatsby, Chapter 4

Best Summary and Analysis The Great Gatsby, Chapter 4 SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Fresh from theworld of organized parties that we saw in Chapter 3, now we dive head-first into the world of organized crime. In TheGreat GatsbyChapter 4, our narrator Nick gets a short private audience with one of New York’s premier gangsters - Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby’s business partner. But, just as Chapter 4 exposes the seamy side of get-rich-quick East Coast life, we also learn the origin story of Gatsby’s love for Daisy. So, basically: come toThe Great GatsbyChapter 4for human teeth as jewelry, stay for the thwarted romance. Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. The Great Gatsby: Chapter 4Summary Sunday morning, people come back to Gatsby’s.New rumors circulate – that Gatsby is a bootlegger and that he is the nephew of German General von Hindenburg (a successful military commander in the war). Nick makes a list of the people who came to Gatsby’s parties that summer. There are East Egg names that sound very WASPy, West Egg names that are distinctly more ethnic-sounding (with clearly German, Polish, Irish, and Jewish names featured), and a bunch of theater nameswho connect back to the idea of Gatsby as a theater producer. One morning in July, Gatsby picks Nick up in his beautiful car and takes him to Manhattan forlunch. They don’t have much to talk about, but suddenly, Gatsby tells Nick to ignore all the rumors about him – he’ll tell him the real deal. According to Gatsby, he was born to a wealthy Midwestern family, his parents are dead, and he was educated at Oxford per family tradition. Nick immediately thinks Gatsby is lying. Gatsby continues his story: he bummed around Europe depressed until the war, then fought bravely enough to get medals from all the Allied governments. Gatsby shows Nick a real-looking medal inscribed to him and a photograph from his Oxford days. Nick is convinced. Apparently this crazy, too-good-to-be-true story really is true. Gatsby tells Nick that this information is a kind of payment for a favor he will ask for later – mysteriously, Nick will find out what the favor is from Jordan. On the drive to Manhattan, Nick sees Mr. Wilson in his gas station. Gatsby is speeding, but when a policeman tries to pull him over, he shows the cop awhite card and the cop politely and apologetically waves them on. Gatsby claims that this happened because the police commissioner owes him a solid. Nick revels in the â€Å"anything goes† quality of Manhattan as they drive past a funeral procession and a car with both black and white passengers. Even Gatsby wouldn’t stand out here. At lunch, Gatsby introduces Nick to Meyer Wolfshiem, who is described in offensive anti-Semitic terms. Nick mocks his speech patterns, his appearance, and his mannerisms, which in his mind seem to connect as closely to Wolfshiembeing Jewish as to him being a gangster. Wolfshiem reminisces about another restaurant, where he witnessed a gangland execution (and was clearly an active participant in gang activity). Nick remembers the case, and that the shooters were put to death by electric chair. It suddenly turns out that Wolfsheim thinks that Gatsby introduced Nick as a potential business prospect, but Gatsby clarifies that Nick is simply a friend. Gatsby apologizes for not telling Nick about whatever the favor will be, and then takes off to make a phone call, leaving Nick and Wolfshiem together. Wolfshiem talks Gatsby up to Nick, confirming that he is an Oxford man.Wolfsheim then points out that his own cufflinks are made out of human molars, and out of nowhere says that Gatsby would never hit on a friend’s wife. When Gatsby returns, Wolfshiem takes off. Nick wonders what he does for a living, and Gatsby tells him that Wolfshiem is a gambler – and the man who fixed the 1919 World Series (what’s now also known as the â€Å"Chicago Black Sox Scandal†).Nick is staggered by the thought that one man could have done such a huge thing. Nick then sees Tom in the restaurant, and they go over to say hello. Gatsby becomes extremely uncomfortable and disappears. Later that day, Jordan tells Nick the following story: In 1917, when she was 16, Jordan became good friends with Daisy in Louisville. Daisy was 18, super popular, with a white car, white clothes, and tons of boys asking her out. On the day Daisy chose to single Jordan out as a new friend, Daisy was having a romantic afternoon with Jay Gatsby. A few years later, Jordan heard a story that Daisy had tried to run away from home to say goodbye to a soldier going overseas. Six months later, Daisy married Tom Buchanan in the biggest wedding ever. Tom’s wedding present to Daisy was a pearl necklace worth $350,000 (over five million dollars in today’s money). Jordan was one of Daisy’s bridesmaids. The night before the wedding, she found Daisy completely wasted, holding a letter. Daisy drunkenly cried and begged Jordan to call off the wedding. She then crumpled the letter up in the bathtub.But the next day, none of this was mentioned, and the wedding went fine. After the honeymoon, Daisy seemed very much in love with Tom, but Tom was already cheating on her. Daisy, meanwhile, has never had affairs – at least none that anyone knows about. Jordan finishes her story by saying that when Nick came to dinner with Daisy and Tom is the first time Daisy had heard the name Gatsby in all these years – and she realized that he was the same Gatsby she had known in Louisville. Nick is amazed at the coincidence. Jordan replies that it’s not a coincidence at all – Gatsby bought the house across the bay on purpose. Gatsby would like Nick to invite Daisy over one day, and then let Gatsby come over also, â€Å"accidentally† meeting Daisy there.Nick is floored by the insanity of this level of planning. Jordan thinks maybe Gatsby expected Daisy to come to one of his parties, and when that didn’t happen, he made up this new plan.Nick and Jordan make out. I, for one, would love to see the flow chart of Gatsby’s elaborately laborious planning process. Its wheels within wheels are at "Count of Monte Cristo" level! Key Chapter 4 Quotes "I'm going to make a big request of you today," he said, pocketing his souvenirs with satisfaction, "so I thought you ought to know something about me. I didn't want you to think I was just some nobody. You see, I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad thing that happened to me." (4.43) The more Gatsby seems to reveal about himself, the more he deepens the mystery– it’s amazing how clichà ©d and yet how intriguing the â€Å"sad thing† he mentions immediately is. It’s also interesting that Gatsby uses his origin story as a transaction – he’s not sharing his past with Nick to form a connection, but as advance payment for a favor. At the same time, there’s a lot of humor in this scene. Imagine any time you told anyone something about yourself, you then had to whip out some physical object to prove it was true! A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry. "Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ." Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (4.56-58) In a novel so concerned with fitting in, with rising through social ranks, and with having the correct origins, it’s always interesting to see where those who fall outside this ranking system are mentioned. Just he earlier described loving the anonymity of Manhattan, here Nick finds himself enjoying a similar melting-pot quality as he sees an indistinctly ethnic funeral procession (â€Å"south-eastern Europe† most likely means the people are Greek) and a car with both black and white people in it. What is now racist terminology is here used pejoratively, but not necessarily with the same kind of blind hatred that Tom demonstrates. Instead, Nick can see that within the black community there are also social ranks and delineations – he distinguishes between the way the fiveblack men in the car are dressed, and notes that they feel ready to challenge him and Gatsby in some car-related way. Do they want to race? To compare clothing? It’s unclear, but it adds to the sense of possibility that the drive to Manhattan always represents in the book. "Meyer Wolfshiem? No, he's a gambler." Gatsby hesitated, then added coolly: "He's the man who fixed the World's Series back in 1919." "Fixed the World's Series?" I repeated. The idea staggered me. I remembered of course that the World's Series had been fixed in 1919 but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as a thing that merely happened, the end of some inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million peoplewith the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe. "How did he happen to do that?" I asked after a minute. "He just saw the opportunity." "Why isn't he in jail?" "They can't get him, old sport. He's a smart man." (4.3-9) Nick’s amazement at the idea of one man being behind an enormous event like the fixed World Series is telling. For one thing, the powerful gangster as a prototype of pulling-himself-up-by-his-bootstraps, self-starting man, which the American Dreamholds up as a paragon of achievement, mocks this individualist ideal. It also connects Gatsby to the world of crime, swindling, and the underhanded methods necessary to effect enormous change. In a smaller, less criminal way, watching Wolfshiem maneuver has clearly rubbed off on Gatsby and his convolutedly large-scale scheme to get Daisy’s attention by buying an enormous mansion nearby. Suddenly I wasn't thinking of Daisy and Gatsby any more but of this clean, hard, limited person who dealt in universal skepticism and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my arm. A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired." (4.164) Nick thinks this about Jordan while they are kissing. Two things to ponder: Which one does he think he is: the pursued or the pursuing? The busy or the tired? Perhaps we are meant to match these adjectives up to the two people involved in the main love story, in which case Gatsby is both the pursuing and the busy, while Daisy is the pursued and the tired. If Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby are locked into a romantic triangle (or square, if we include Myrtle), then Jordan and Nick are vying for the position of narrator. Nick presents himself as the objective, nonjudgmental observer – the confidant of everyone he meets. So it’s interesting that here we get his perspective on Jordan’s narrative style – â€Å"universal skepticism† – right after she gets to take over telling the story for a huge chunk of the chapter. Which is the better approach, we are being asked, the overly credulous or the jaded and disbelieving? Are we more likely to believe Jordan when she says something positive about someone since she is so quick to find fault? For example, it seems important that she be the one to state that Daisy hasn’t had any affairs, not Nick. Ladies and gentlemen, the 1919 Chicago â€Å"Black† Sox. Not major league baseball’s finest hour. The Great GatsbyChapter 4Analysis How does the text of this chapterinvoke the major themes of the novel? Let's investigate. Overarching Themes Society and Class. The list of East and West Egg names clearly ties into Tom’s earlier fixationon the book about the â€Å"white race† being in danger of being overwhelmed by â€Å"other races†. Here, we see that the people who until very recently were newcomer immigrants to America are now becoming rich enough to populate West Egg – and it is because of this seeming encroachment that the old money society is circling its wagons ever more. It is interesting that Gatsby’s mansion is a kind of demilitarized zone where these two groups of people encounter each other. The American Dream. Gatsby’s attempt to sell Nick on an origin story of himself as the scion of a wealthy family again points to his desire for self-invention and self-mythologizing. It also shows that he doesn’t want to present himself as an American Dream success story, but instead as an old money part of the upper crust. Morality and Ethics. The introduction of Meyer Wolfshiem focuses our attention on the criminal enterprise pervading the Roaring 20s during the Prohibition. Meyer’s active and powerful effect on the world around him – his ability to single-handedly fix the 1919 World Series – contrasts with the two other wealthy men we have met so far. Gatsby clearly at least somewhat admires Meyer’s abilities and also pursues his desire with a big and bold play. Tom, meanwhile, is powerful only in a physically intimidating way, but has neither the vision nor the follow-through for any large accomplishments. Love, Desire, and Relationships. The marriage of Tom and Daisygets more complicated when we see that Daisy had had some kind of romantic connection with Gatsby beforehand, that she had extreme cold feet before going through with the wedding, and that Tom started having affairs as soon as their honeymoon ended. This gives context to some of Daisy’s earlier despairand of course paints Tom in an even worse light. Unreliable Narrator. Finally, we get a chance to see what a different kind of narratorwould do with this story when Jordan takes over the storytelling duties for a while. She is judgmental, quick to mock her subjects, but the story she tells is psychologically cohesive and doesn’t contradict what we now know of the characters. We are left wondering whether a narrator who puts all their biases up front is better than one who pretends to be totally objective like Nick. Tom’s MOis to buy love - he pacifies Daisy’s cold feet with pearls, and later finds Myrtle’s moral qualms much cheaper to overcome. Crucial Character Beats Gatsby tells Nick an origin story: he’s the son of wealthy now-dead Midwesterners, he went to Oxford, and then he fought bravely in WWI. Not only that, but he has a medal and a photograph to prove it! Gatsby introduces Nick to Meyer Wolfshiem. He is clearly affiliated with the Jewish mafia. (In fact, he is based on the real-life gangster Arnold Rothstein.) He is depicted with every horrible anti-Semitic stereotype available – everything from his appearance to the way he speaks is a racist caricature. Jordan fills Nick on Daisy and Tom’s wedding. Daisy had had a romantic connection with Jay Gatsby before then, but ended up marrying Tom after a night of hysterically crying about wanting to call it off. A few months after the wedding, Tom was already cheating on her. Jordan also tells Nick that Gatsby bought the house across the bay from Tom and Daisy’s on purpose. He wants Nick to invite Daisy over so that Gatsby can then â€Å"accidentally† stop by. What’s Next? Get comfortable with the flashbacks and flashforwards of the narrative by checking out the chronological timelineof exactly what happens when in the story. Compare Gatsby and Daisy’s backstory with Fitzgerald’s own youthful love affairto see how authors mine their own experiences to build a richer fictional world. Move on to the summary of Chapter 5, or revisit the summary of Chapter 3. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Dr. Anna Wulick About the Author Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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Sunday, October 20, 2019

Brighton Rock by Graham Green Essay Example

Brighton Rock by Graham Green Essay Example Brighton Rock by Graham Green Essay Brighton Rock by Graham Green Essay The world is filled with different types of people with different beliefs. There are people who do good because of religious beliefs or superstitions. There are people who do bad because they are filled with anger and the belief that people have damned them and done them wrong.And then there are people who make choices based on their simple belief of right and wrong. In the novel â€Å"Brighton Rock† written by Graham Green you will see how a kind hearted antagonist puts her own life in danger to fight for justice for a stranger who died because she fell under the simple category of believing in â€Å"right and wrong. One day, Ida Arnold was drinking at a pub she regularly frequented. What she did not realize was that this day would be different than any other day. She had no idea that when Fred Hale walked into the bar, the next weeks would be filled with excitement, sadness, heroism, unexpected riches and danger. Ida was always looking out for people. She was a kind soul and this proved no different with Fred Hale, the man she met just that day. Her journey begins when Fred, aka Kolley Kibber, came to her town to place his Messenger cards throughout Brighton Rock. This was his job. It was supposed to be a regular day but proved to be his last day. Pinkie, the new leader of Kite’s mob spotted him in the bar where Ida was singing. Pinkie approached Fred Hale who begged him not to tell any of the mobsters that he had come to town. They had a vengeance against him. Pinkie felt no sympathy for him as he was filled with evil. Ida Arnold was singing at the bar which was the reason Fred entered the establishment to begin with. He heard her singing from the street and was taken by her immediately and she by him. Fred, knowing that he was in immediate danger and needed to escape, convinced Ida into going on a date with him that day. He needed a decoy and she was an unsuspecting trusting women. As they walked though town they discussed their

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Corporate Sustainability and Organizational Change - Case Of OMV Essay

Corporate Sustainability and Organizational Change - Case Of OMV Petrom Answering question that listed on order instruction - Essay Example In this case, the integrative strategy (Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) shows how the company can improve socially and environmentally while still maintaining its competitive advantage in business. The integrative model of organizational change is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). In planning, it provides the recent condition, and it helps the company to set up its ultimate goals. So, the company will understand its requirement to change the values, norms and rules, or, in other words, the problems. The company will also understand the need to derive and detail individual goals. It will need to start collecting data and diagnosing the goals. After understanding those elements, it will need to adjust its management to lead the company towards set goals. Thirdly is â€Å"Check†. The corporation should check and evaluate the performance of the organizational change and whether the corporation and the employees can meet the objectives. The company needs to take corrective measure if it is underperforming. Fourthly is â€Å"Act†. After a corporation gathers all of the data, it should give its reaction, and readjust the plan if it does not meet the objectives. It needs to change or come up with new plan so as to achieve the objectives. OMV is a big company. The first major issue is that there is need to implement organizational change to 20000 employees. OMV needs to make all of its employees to have strong commitment towards supporting sustainable organizational change. Secondly, it needs to reduce emission by leading the company to operate with energy efficiency. It should apply safety, security, environmental care and corporate social responsibility. It is very expensive to lead the business to operate like this. The impact of sustainability and organizational change can cause employees to have different mindsets. Their main goal is how to operate a

Friday, October 18, 2019

Children with special needs in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Children with special needs in Australia - Essay Example Most of the times, children with special needs from all over the world are deprived of education. It must be realized that they too need education as much as, or even more than, the children without special needs do. They need this education for the following reasons. Equal Right to Education. It is said that â€Å"education prepares individuals to be self-reliant and self-sufficient participants in society† (Rothstein & Johnson, 2010, p. 69). Children with special needs are already unable to do many things due to their handicap. They need to have, at least, the basic education to lessen instances of untoward further deprivation of â€Å"social, economic, intellectual, and psychological well-being† in the future (Rothstein & Johnson, 2010, p. 69). Their case, however, require a more intense educational techniques and strategies for them to reach their full potential. Improve their Focus. Normally, children are easily distracted. Children with special needs more often have worse cases. They lack focus and are inattentive most of the times (Bainbridge, n.d.). Special education instructors are packed with different ways to deal with this inattentiveness that can improve their focus while they are taught with reading and solving math problems (AutoSkill, n.d.). Many other academic progresses are told to be seen in children attending special education. Interaction. Being as they are, children with special needs are continually facing social issues that deny them the chance to interact with other people (Hart, 2009). When children are put in a classroom with other children with or without disabilities, they will be able to learn ways on how to react on different situations with other people. Children with special needs interacting with other children with special needs will improve their self-worth by seeing that their differences are accepted and it is fine to be who they are. On

Failures of Cross Border Mega Mergers Research Paper

Failures of Cross Border Mega Mergers - Research Paper Example According to Ghemawat and Ghadar (2000), global mergers are made for a completely misguided and wrong reason. I support the arguments that the two authors advanced in their article,’ dubious logic of global mega-mergers. Nothing more explains the wrong reasoning behind the mergers except the levels of their failures. There much that should, therefore, guide international businesses while considering an international merger. This paper provides illustrations to support my position on this matter. Failures in cross border mega-mergers Ghemawat and Ghadar (2000) argues that the wisdom of the ‘winner takes it all’ in globalization and mega-mergers is misplaced and has no empirical evidence to support it. The craze for globalization has had no significant impact on the financial strengths and growth of a given company. To them, there is a need for executives to stop pursuing the biases that have led them to make mega-mergers and cross border deals. Globalizations have different facets, which are more economically viable as opposed to needless expansion. Cross border mergers are viewed by investment analysts as a way of making entries into a foreign market, and several reasons explain the high number of cross border mega-mergers around the globe. However, the high number of failures and low business experienced after international mergers strengthen the stand taken by Ghemawat and Ghadar (2000). The significant number of cross border mega failure has resulted in increased studies to ascertain whether the craze for acquisition and mergers is outplaced. Ghemawat and Ghadar (2000) are of the view that the increased number of crossed border mergers and acquisitions are a waste of resources and time to the companies as they are bound to fail. The process of expansion into new borders and foreign lands has a number of economic factors that need to be put into consideration. These include the foreign currency of operation, the socio-cultural and politica l set up of the nation and the political stability; therefore, any organization must factor in all these factors before making a step towards acquisition and mergers in foreign states (Sudekum, 2009). In cross border mergers, companies that have their headquarters and operation bases in different countries and regions come together and merge their operations, this results into the merger of different political and social settings that affect the operations of a business. Political, social and economic differences between countries make globalization and cross border mergers a tough undertaking. Differences in the fiscal policies also present a number of challenges to companies operating in foreign settings. The harmonization of fiscal policies even in the European Union has not created a business environment that is economically and politically homogenous. International labor laws in organizations also differ significantly. This present challenges to companies operating in new econo mic and political setups (Hughes, 2012). In the process of finalizing cross border mergers, companies tend to overlook essential factors and this has created failures in a number of mega-mergers.

Oil Taxes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Oil Taxes - Essay Example Crude oil, as the raw material in the world market has effected changes that have affected the economic stability of countries. While price changes has its usual negative implications, adverse supply shocks unexpectedly has created a critical scenario in the reduced aggregate supply in the world oil market thereby increasing its prices. In the early 70's, OPEC's control and reduction of oil prices according to Mankiw(1998)1 has aroused the world oil price instantly that has resulted to double-digit inflation and high unemployment rates. The changing prices of crude oil have its usual implications on the economy that often results to a world oil crisis. At the moment, the world is witnessing a major oil crisis with the current war in Iraq and the ensuing conflict with the other large oil producing countries in the Middle East. It is startling to note that material changes in the price of oil can rapidly cascade to the whole economy thereby affecting the price structures of consumer go ods and services. The United States, as the highest consumer of the world's oil stands at the loosing end thereby carefully fielding studies to convince the Gulf and Europe to limit their cuts. Former US Energy Secretary Richardson2(2000)has suggested in a new measure to limit the drastic impact on world economic slowdown by discussing the relationship between the world oil price market and the heavy taxation imposed by the government of oil-producing countries on oil production. According to OPEC, the barrel of refined oil has been split in to three; crude oil price, industry margin and taxes. Governments who share the bulk of the profit are thereby enjoined to seriously observe their tax policies and exact measures to alleviate the prices of this main commodity. Mineral Taxation around the World The current moves to effective globalization aims to de-emphasize high tax rate, tie tax rate to additional profit or impose low but flat tax on all activities. Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Tunisia and Venezuela that have similar high tax rate do not share in production, while Qatar, Egypt, Yemen and Argentina that share in production have tax rate ranging from 0-40%.73 Most of these countries have done away with royalty while others have rates ranging from 1-12%, which is based on the sliding scale tied to production. Let us look into the different taxation measures imposed by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, two minor oil producers who have every potential for economic gains and their implementation of tax reforms. As international capital flows are guided by the prevailing fiscal regimes, there is a need for achieving some degree of harmonization. In this context, it is important to know what types of taxes can be expected on the oil sector industry. The dual nature further imposed on oil and gas as a special character of the mineral sector on other countries has equated the dual role of the government leading to the dilemma of whether taxation should be different in the mining sector and general system in terms of rate structure and administration. Taxes of general application may not always be suitable for mineral companies involving higher capital intensity and long-gestation lags. Further, it is difficult to prejudge whether the exemption of the mineral companies from