INDUSTRIYAL ANALYSIS-SWOT ANALYSIS-COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS Research Paper

INDUSTRIYAL ANALYSIS-SWOT ANALYSIS-COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS - Research Paper Example The growth data that was compiled by Datamonitor in 2010 approximated that in 2014, the US film market had a value of roughly $48.2 billion, which was an increase of around 0.3% since the year 2009 (Highbeam Business, 2009; Redwood Capital, 2014 ). The industry has also increased its economy of scale. For instance, after Marvel was bought by Disney in 2009, it expanded both in the animation as well as the movie sector. The revenue has also increased and in 2013 it was roughly $36 billion with North America having the largest share of $11.8 billion. It is projected that the global proceeds will continue to grow, reaching approximately $44 billion in the year 2017. There has also been an increase in online ticketing with major players such as Fandango whose tickets cover over 22,00 screens in diverse nations across the US as well as Europe. In 2005, there was purchase of 1.38 billion tickets and in 2006 the bought tickets were 1.68 billion in Canada and the US. The online film ticketing is projected to reach around $13.7 billion by the year 2017. From the figures, it is evident that the movie industry will continue to expand and generate increased revenue in the coming years (Redwood Capital, 2014). Movie related theatres come in diverse sizes as well as shapes and developing one at the heart of Winston Salem in North Carolina is important since the region has only five theatres unlike other regions such as Charlotte that has 14. The region is perfect sine there will be an opportunity for a new experience and local competition will be low. The theatre will be developed in an old warehouse that is located in Winston Salem. In finding a suitable place, one of the main challenges will be to access its suitability. There will also be a need to ensure that the building meets reasonable legal standards of health as well as safety for all persons. Therefore, the management will need to come up with a safety guideline, covering issues such as fire, conservation of

Strategies to Control Sand Production

Strategies to Control Sand Production CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION   1.1 Background Figure 1.1 Sand Production Process Throughout the years, there have been incessantly developing and using various kind of sand control applications in the reservoirs to control the sand production. However, it has been a vital role in the oil and gas industry. In fact, it is very challenging to achieve greater results. Moreover, with todays technologies, the cost of operating is higher than before, the impact of sand production is difficult to be ignored. Moreover, that is not all the consequence of sand formation in the well, and it will probably lead to various of the problem such as loss of integrity, causing the wellbore to collapse, and causing erosion of downhole and surface equipment. The fact is, it is a crucial activity during the production of oil and gas. Here is why, in the sand formation fluid, it consists of gas, oil, and water. It can flow through the sand, into the production wells are produced through perforations into the well. Mostly, it will affect concerning economics to safety hazards in the well productivity. On the other hands, it is a major concern in the oil and gas industry. When the sand produced is lifted up to the surface, sand can damage surface equipment such as valves, pipelines, pumps, separators, and more. It is must be removed from the produced fluids at the surface. Besides, sand flowing through the formation, will collapse the casing and be slowing the production rate. There are several problems cause by sand production. These problems include plugging the perforations, wellbore instability, failure of sand control completions, environmental effects, and erosion of downhole and surface equipment, pipeline blockage and leakage. These devastating consequences lead to more frequent well intervention and workovers generating additional needs for sand disposal particularly in offshore and swamp locations. The impacts of sand production are nearly always detrimental to the short and long term productivity of the well. Sand control has always played a major role in oil production. Most of the oil and gas fields having the problem during sand production. Some of the wells produce from unconsolidated sandstones that produce formation sand with reservoir fluids. Some reservoirs can produce several tons of sand in a day, and it is critical that the operators require downhole sand control in all sand prone wells.      Ã‚   Sand occurs when the stresses of the formation exceed the strength of the formation. The formation strength is derived from the natural cementing material that binds the sand grains together. Sand grains are also held together by the cohesive forces caused formation water unable to move. The stress of the formation sand grains is caused by many factors, such as tectonic actions, overburden pressure, pore pressure, stress changes from drilling, and the drag forces of the producing fluids. When fluids are produced from reservoirs, stresses are imposed on the sand grains that tend to move them into the wellbore, along with the fluids produced. These stresses are caused by pressure difference in the formation, fluid frictional forces, and the weight of the overburden. In the sand prone reservoir, it has several methods of sand control which can be installed in production wells. So, it is important to determine the correct sand control techniques in each particular situation. For instance, we need to understand the behavior of different aspects of the sand formation in multiphase flow, in orders to help us to identify the sand formation. Thus, it provides us with the type of sand control completion to choose for production wells. As a matter of facts, it able to improve the behavior of the sand from the well we produced and to keep sand from entering the well along with the hydrocarbons. It depends on the characteristics of the reservoir. There are several techniques have been used for sand control in sandstone reservoirs. Moreover, to minimizing sand production from wells, such as maintenance and workover, gravel packing, sand consolidation, rate restriction, and more. In order, to prevent sand production it depends on different reservoir parameters and economic conditions. Therefore, sand exclusion methods are required. 1.2  Problem Background Sand control is to minimizing the sand and fine production during petroleum production. Sand and fine produced with oil and gas can cause erosion of production facilities and equipment, resulting in production downtime, expensive repairs and potentially loss of containments. The cause of sand production is always damaging to the long-term productivity of the well. Although some of the wells are manageable for sand production. In addition, attempting to manage sand production well is not easy. They are many problems need to be the concern to operate the wells. To improve the mitigating sand production that exists in the oil and gas industry as the reservoir sits in sand-prone formation. The potential to produce sand in the formation increases as the reservoir has been depleted. It is a likely occurrence in production and injects wells because of the effective overburden pressure of the formation increases. Also as the production rate from the reservoir increases the fluid pressure gradient near the wellbore tends to draw sand into the wellbore. Increasing reservoir production rate raises the probability of reaching the reservoir boundaries. Problems that were usually found in the sand formation especially Unconsolidated formations. Water breakthrough the transitional zone of formations. High consumption of reservoir pressure in formations. Unusual forces of the high lateral tectonic force in formations. Unpredicted change in flow rate 1.2.1 Effects Sand Production The effects of sand production are often detrimental to the productivity of a well in the long run. Downhole equipment might be blocked or damaged and surface facilities disabled. 1.2.1.1 Erosion Of Downhole And Surface Equipment When sand was produced in the formation at the high velocity, it will erode the surface and downhole equipment. It will be leading to the frequent maintenance to replace the equipment. If the erosion is severe or occurs over a sufficient length of time, complete failure of surface and downhole equipment may occur, resulting in the critical safety and environmental problems as well as deferred production. High-pressure gas containing sand particles expanding through the surface choke is the most hazardous situation. For some equipment failures, a rig assisted workover may be required to repair the damage. Figure 1.2 Surface Choke Failure Due To Erosion By Formation Sand (Source: Completion Tech., 1995) Figure 1.3 Eroded Piston Head (Source: Han Et Al., 2011) 1.2.1.2 Formation Subsidence The impact of producing sand formation, it can collapse the formation. As time goes by, a tremendous amount of sand will be generated, which will be creating a void at the casing. As more and more sand is produced, it will be made the void larger and larger. Furthermore, the void will collapse into it. Thus it decays the material. Most importantly, sand grains will create a lower permeability in the formation with a wider area of grain sizes. It will lose the productivity of the sand production. 1.2.1.3 Sand Accumulation In Surface Equipment Reservoir fluid will carry the sand up to the surface, with higher velocity production in the fluid. However, sand particles frequently inhabit in the facilities such as separators, heaters, pumps, and condensers. Plus, it will accumulate in these facilities, it is a must to be cleanup from time to time. Meanwhile, it will delay the production, and the well must shut down, and extras cost needed to be clean up the wellbore production. Production volume of the separator will decrease if it filled with sand. Similarly, it cannot handle gas, oil, and water. 1.2.1.4 Sand Disposal It constitutes a problem in formations producing sand especially in areas where there are stringent environmental constraints. Offshore processing systems that do not satisfy anti-pollution regulation the separated sand is to be transported onshore for disposal constituting additional production cost. 1.2.2 Causes Of Sand Production Rock strength and fluid flow are the elements that are affecting the factors that are affecting the tendency of the formation and the wellbore. Thus, sand particles consist of fine grain-size and load bearing solids formation in the production. Production rates are usually maintained at a consistent level so that it can avoid the production of the load bearing particles, but causing the production rates low. 1.2.2.1 Production Rate Higher the fluid of the pressure near the wellbore, thus the rate of production will be increasing, which will move the sand into the wellbore. Consequently, pressure differential and frictional drag forces will surpass the compressive strength in the reservoir. However, for wells that below the pressure differential pressure and frictional drag forces is not strong to exceed the exceed the compressive strength of the formation, therefore it causing sand production rate reduce. In order, to reduce the productions rate, it needs to slow it down at certain levels. So that, the flow rate will be within the acceptance range of the production of the well. 1.2.2.2 Pore Pressure Reduction When the reservoir fluid in production diminishes, it causes the pressure and pore pressure to reduce. As it reduces, the production of the well will slowly deplete. Hence, by decreasing the pressure will generate the stress at the formation sand, it will make the overburden pressure to be increasing. Moreover, formation sand particles may be crushed or break loose from its matrix at some time in reservoir life which could be produced along with the reservoir fluids. The formation might subside if the effective stress exceeds the formation strength due to compaction of reservoir rock from the reduction in pore pressure. 1.2.2.3 Increasing Water Production When the water cut increased, sand production will increase as well. These occurrences can be explained by two mechanisms. Each sand grains were surrounded by the surface tension of the connate water, which are the cohesiveness to certain grains in the water wet sandstone formation. Besides, when the surface tension forces and the cohesiveness of grain-to-grain are reducing. Alternatively, the productions of the connate water will be produced. The stability of the sand arch perforation has been shown to be limited greatly by the production of water resulting in the production of sand. Whereas, an arch is a hemispherical cap of interlocking sand grains that is scheduled at constant drawdown and flow rate preventing sand production (Jon Carlson et al., 1992). A second mechanism by which water production affects sand production is related to the effects of relative permeability. As the water cut increases, the relative permeability to oil decreases. This result in an increasing pressure differential being required to produce oil at the same rate. An increase in pressure differential near the wellbore creates a greater shear force across the formation sand grains. Once again, the higher stresses can lead to instability of the sand arch around each perforation and subsequent sand production (Completion tech., 1995). Figure 1.4 Geometry Of A Stable Arch Surrounding A Perforation (Source: Completion Tech., 1995) 1.3 Objectives The main objectives of this research are: To explain the properties and importance of sand control required in bottom-hole production. To analyze the effectiveness of chemical additives in sand control. To evaluate the effectiveness of clay-sawdust as a possible sand control material in the petroleum industry. 1.4  Problem Statement How to increase the fluid velocity of the sand produced and increase the productivity of the sand production? How to determine the suitability of chemical additive in sand control? How can plastic consolidation be custom engineered and manufactured in accordance to oil sands reservoir properties for optimal sand control? 1.5  Scope Of Study To complete the final year project, the student is required to complete the final year project titled Evaluation of Clay-Sawdust Mixture in Sand Control Application. This project requires the fulfilment of few objectives of study that requires the student to learn the properties and importance of sand control required in bottom-hole production. The scopes of study that will be covered in this paper include several aspects: To explain the properties and importance of sand control required in bottom-hole production. To analyse the effectiveness of chemical additives in sand control. To evaluate the effectiveness of clay-sawdust as a possible sand control material in the petroleum industry. To analyse the type of clay that found in the sand control To evaluate the alternate sand control method for sand production consolidation by injecting the chemical additive that will be ideal for the reservoir well. 1.6  Thesis Outline The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one gives an introduction and problem facing during production. It also states the objectives and defines the scope. Chapter two talks about literature review on the subject matter sand control selection, chemical sand consolidation, in situ formation consolidation, resin coated sand consolidation, permeability and porosity of reservoir. The methodology is discussed in chapter three. Chapter four focuses on results discussion. Chapter five gives conclusions and recommendations of the thesis. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1  SAND CONTROL SELECTION Figure 2.1 Sand Control Type Many unconsolidated heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs require a sand control screen system to prevent sand particle influx into the wellbore to minimize surface casing erosion and environmental and remedial costs. It needs to justify the problems which related to the downhole sand control system and prediction the desired amount of the production rate in the reservoir of sand would produce. Sand production can be a significant issue when producing from unconsolidated reservoirs. Hydrocarbon production from unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs can plague with potentially erosive but mostly of the sand production. However, it will affect the movement of the formation sand causing it to re-orientation of the stresses and fluid velocity The selection of the sand control method to be used in a reservoir depends on conditions of the reservoir field and economic considerations. Additionally, to determining which sand control techniques are suitable for the field. There are many different sand control methods each with pros and cons. Such as, Rate control or exclusion Non-impairing completion techniques Selective perforation practices Screens (without gravel packs) Slotted liners Wire-wrapped screens Premium screens Expandable screens Pre-packed screens Gravel packs Frac packs Chemical sand consolidation In situ formation consolidation Resin coated sand or gravel consolidation 2.2  CHEMICAL SAND CONSOLIDATION In chemical sand consolidation, there is two type of method. utilised It is being used where the possibility and size of the sand production are considered low and is one of the preventive technique to pumped before sand production initiated. The latter is considered as more of a remedial technique in the increasing sand production. Chemical consolidation is mostly being used in a short, perforated intervals. 2.2.1  IN SITU FORMATION CONSOLIDATION Figure 2.2 In Situ Formation Consolidation In situ formation consolidation, it utilises by injecting resins liquid into the formation through the perforations and a catalyst is required for hardening. It will harden and forms a consolidated mass of the sand grains which sand grains will bind together at the contact points and increase its unconfined compressive strength. Certain catalysts are mix into the resin at the surface. Hence, it needed time and temperature to harden the resin. In this treatment need to be considered to performed through all the perforations, thus after the treatment, the well will be permeable and consolidation might not deteriorate with time. However, it can increase the compressive strength of the formation, so it will be sufficient to withstand the forces while during the production of the flow rates. Similarly, a suitable cementing job is a must for this method because to prevent the resin from channeling the casing. On the contrary, the perforation should not be treated at shaley zones because of the low permeability, and it is hard for the fluids to flow in place. In situ formation consolidation leaves the wellbore fully open. It is important where large outside diameter downhole completion equipment is needed. While in situ formation can be done through tubing or in wells with small diameter casing. 2.2.2  RESIN COATED SAND CONSOLIDATION There is two different way of injecting resin coated sand consolidation down the well and into the perforation. So that, it will maintain the sand surface. Thus sand pack will be bind together as the resin coating become harden. Some of the sand left in the casing after the operation. Whereas, this method needs to be perforated in order, to clean out the sand and controlled the flow rate. Besides, resin coated include pumping sand into the well to filled the perforation and casing. Although, bottom hole temperature of the well will be causing the resin to complete the cure into a consolidated pack. After that, sand consolidation packs able to drilled out the casing and leaving the resin coated sand in the perforations. Some of the remaining in the consolidation will act as a permeable filter to prevent the production of the sand formation, the uses of the resin coated are to prepacked sand screens. Despite, using resin coated can be complex. First, and most important, it requires that all perforations be filled completely with the resin coated sand, and the sand will cure. The perforations increasingly, as zone length and deviation from the vertical increase. Secondly, the resin coated with sufficient compressive strength. Nevertheless, it has poor longevity, as most wells do not produce sand free for extended periods of time. 2.3  PERMEABILITY OF RESERVOIR Figure 2.3 Permeability Absolute permeability is the resistance to fluid flow in a porous media when it is the only fluid phase present. The permeability is a measure of the ability of the reservoir rock to transmit fluid. It is the conductivity of the reservoir rock (Gates 2012). If it takes a lot of pressure to squeeze fluid through rock, that rock has low permeability. If fluid passes through the rock easily, it has high permeability. Permeability is measured in the unit of milli darcy (one milli darcy is 1/1000 of a Darcy). The rate of oil and gas can decrease if there are decreases in permeability of reservoir sands. Interstitial water and clay content are what contains in reservoir sand. (Jiang, et al., November 10, 2010) After drilling progress in initiated the production of oil, water will infiltrate into the sand from drilling mud. The water will have less salinity compared to the pure original water. Swelling of clay particles is caused by the fresh water. Influence of driving pressure porous medium is a measure of the ease with which fluids may pass through the medium. The equation by which permeability to liquids may be calculated by laboratory measurements is: (Equation. 2.1) This equation gives permeability, k, in Darcys if viscosity, u, is expressed in centipoises; the rate of flow, Q, in cubic centimetres per second; length, L, in centimetres; area, A, in square centimetres; and pressure differential, P1P2, in atmospheres. This equation, known as Darcys law, is also used to calculate gaseous permeability if the volumetric rate of flow is measured at mean pressure. There will be no reactions between the flowing fluids because it is one of the limiting conditions for the constancy of permeability. Swelling when wetted with waters is due to the clay contain. 2.4  SAWDUST Figure 2.4 Sawdust Sawdust is a tiny-sized and powdery wood waste produced by cutting, grinding, drilling, sanding and slicing wood with a saw or other tools. The size of sawdust particles depends on the types of wood, which the sawdust is collected and the size of the saw teeth. Besides, sawdust is an effective, low-cost absorbent, which is widely used in many industrials. In addition, sawdust being essentially a lignocellulosic material is not easily deteriorated but rather stable on recalcitrant in the environment, and rarely produces odour during its long-term biodegradation process (Terazawa et al., 1999; Zavala et al., 2005). Furthermore, benefits of using sawdust as a composite material are because it has desirable physical properties. Such as low apparent specific gravity(density), high porosity, high water retention, moderate water drainage, high bacteria tolerance, and biodegradability at an acceptable rate. For instance, sawdust composting process can be enhanced. 2.5  CLAY Figure 2.5 Kaolinite Clay Figure 2.6 Montmorillonite Clay Figure 2.7 Illite Clay Clay is a fine textured earth, it is plastic when wet but hard and compact when dry. It being referred to as finest grain particles in a sediment, soil, or rock. Clay is a very fine-grained, unconsolidated rock matter, which is plastic when wet, but becomes hard and stony when heated. It has its origin in natural processes, mostly complex weathering, transported and deposited by sedimentation within geological periods. Clay is composed of silica (SiO2), Alumina (Al2O3) and water (H2O) plus appreciable concentration of oxides of iron, alkali and alkaline earth, and contains groups of crystalline substances known as clay minerals such as quartz, feldspar and mica. The majority of the oil and gas reservoir contains clay. Thus, these clay minerals such as montmorillonite, illite, and kaolinite mostly found in the rocks of oil and gas exploration. In the early age of oil exploration, clay minerals were studied to predict the quality of organic rick source rock and generation mechanism when scientists tried to investigate the origin of oil and gas (Grim, 1947, Brooks, 1952). At the same time, clay minerals were extensively analyses for diagenesis and reservoir quality prediction due to the application of petrological analysis and quantitative mineralogical analysis by X-ray diffraction (Griffin, 1971; Pettijohn, 1975; Heald and Larese, 1974; Bloch et al., 2002). On the other hand, it is important in oil sands. The particles will form adjacent to sand grains, and it will be occupied by the interstitial water found together with oil sands. However, the cohesion of clay is larger than granular soils. Clay is less permeable than a sandy soil, and low water drainage. Hence, the pore pressure induced by an increase in load is dissipated very slowly, and the transfer of stress and the corresponding increase in inter-granular pressure are likewise much slower. The dispersed of clay is free to travel within the reservoir thereby becoming mobile clays which can cause plugging of pore spaces due to migration. Therefore, deflocculation can occur due to low salinity-high pH, and natural repulsion forces due to not enough cations available. Once deflocculated, clay tends to migrate when the wetting phase becomes mobile. In addition to this, Clay swelling can be due to a salinity shock, where high salinity fresh water is introduced in a reservoir rock causing a shock to the system. Besides, montmorillonite clays can become mobile and then migrate causing issues with plugging of the pore space of a reservoir rock due to it being anionic charged can form thin microfilms on the surface of the sand control. 2.6  POROSITY OF RESERVOIR Figure 2.8 Porosity The porosity of rock is a measure of the capacity of reservoir rocks to contain fluids. Oil, gas and water are within the reservoir rocks that fluids were stored in the pore space. Higher capacities of reservoir rock it contains fluids, it has high porosity. Whereas, low porosity has low capacities reservoir rocks fluids contain. Therefore, porosity data are often employing qualitatively and quantitatively to determine and evaluate the potential volume of hydrocarbons contained in a reservoir. For instance, in a discovery well that shows the presence of hydrocarbons in the reservoir rocks, the set of data that is reviewed at least qualitatively to evaluate reservoir potential is porosity data acquired with either logging-while-drilling tools or by running wireline tools. These data are collected directly from the measurements of the core sample and well logs. It was to predict the reservoir characterization for the classification of lithological facies, and the assignment of permeabilities using porosity-permeability transforms. The porosity of rock is a measure of its capacity to contain fluids. Porosity is calculated as the pore volume of the rock divided by its bulk volume. à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦ = à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦ = porosity; Vp = pore volume; and VB = bulk volume. Pore volume is the total volume of pore spaces in the rock, and bulk volume is the physical volume of the rock, which includes the pore spaces and matrix materials (sand and shale, etc.) that compose the rock. 2.7FLOW RATE Figure 2.9 Fluid Flow Through Wellbore There is a critical fluid-flow rate beyond which the hydrodynamic force exceeds the binding forces holding fines particles together, and fines ( For instance, the lower the flow rate, the better the retention (Ballard and Beare 2006). Production can be affected by non-optimized inflow distribution. Drawdown and plugging can be affected by asphaltene and wax precipitation due to temperature reduction, the high viscosity of produced oil, resins present, near-wellbore pressure drop and flow convergence resistance created by the slotted liner (Trent 2005). Additionally, multiphase flow increases plugging potential and sand control issues. By depending on formation characteristics and multiphase flow, the interstitial flow velocity can either enhance or reduce near wellbore permeability (Bennion et. al. 2008). When only one phase flows in a reservoir, then there can be an allowable increase in the flow velocity to the slot more than if there is multiphase flow. Plugging and significant solids production occurs with the two-phase flow where water and oil flow since fines migration and transport only happens when the wetting phase is in motion in the porous media (Bennion et al. 2008). There is a critical fluid-flow rate beyond which the hydrodynamic force exceeds the binding forces holding fines particles together beyond which the fine started to move. A sudden increase in flow rate also could induce fines migration. 2.8SURFACTANT Surfactant mostly uses in Enhanced Oil Recovery, and it is to improve the wettability of porous rocks allowing water to flow through them faster displacing more oil. Surfactant Flooding can improve oil production by decreasing interfacial tension, improving oil mobility thus allowing better displacement of the oil by injected water. (Chon, 2014) The surfactant can be used to lower the amount of chemical usage in the recovery process, and it can decrease the chemical concentration to below 0.5 percentage. Surfactant provides safer enhanced oil recovery products at lower price. The most effective surfactant derived from plants are sunflower oil, soy and corn oil. These oils are no hazardous and non-toxic. (Hirasaki, et al., 2011) CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 3.1  INTRODUCTION The accompanying section clarifies about the technique utilized as a part of this exploration to assemble the important information. The information was to assess how clay-sawdust as a possible sand control material and could enhance by the surfactant for sand control applications. 3.2  CLAY There is three type of clay which ha

Shakespeare presents Antony, Cleopatra, and Caesar as committed only to

The language Shakespeare uses in Antony and Cleopatra is concerned overwhelmingly with image and display. As Enobarbus describes the first meeting of the lovers we are drawn in to a world of colour and wealth, ‘The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,/ Burned on the water’. Cleopatra herself is described in even more majestic – even divine – terms, ‘o’erpicturing’ the goddess Venus. Antony himself is ‘the crown of the earth’, whose eyes ‘glowed like plated Mars’, while Caesar is ‘a Jove’, whose ascendancy will bring ‘the time of universal peace’ – an allusion, Rene Weis suggests, to the everlasting kingdom of Christ. However, it is debatable as to whether the characters themselves share the intent of the grand words surrounding them, and if they are as committed to image as this quotation suggests. Antony, in fact, seems to surrender his public image completely for Cleopatra’s sake. The play opens with a comment on the received view, Antony has become a ‘strumpet’s fool’. Indeed, he is willing to sacrifice Rome and his worldly status in virtue of his love for Cleopatra, ‘let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch/ Of the ranged empire fall’. Only absolute political necessity can draw him from Egypt, and even then he recognises that ‘i’th’East my pleasure lies’. His marriage to Octavia angers Cleopatra greatly, but it was enacted only to placate Caesar and is soon rendered useless as he returns promptly to Egypt. Furthermore, his heroic image [he was said by Plutarch to have been like Hercules] is damaged by his preferences, Caesar mocks him as ‘womanly’ while even Antony himself cries at Cleopatra’s servant ‘O, thy vile lady! She has robbed me of my sword!’ In a sense, it appears that Antony has been unmanned by his com... ...d me my robes, put on my crown’ – shows her determination to make a memorable final tableau. On the other hand, and more likely given the divine undertones and implications in the language, she seeks Antony in a life beyond death, realising that life and politics – those ‘baser elements’ – are trivial compared to everlasting love. A conclusion can now be established. Antony is positively unconcerned with display, he sacrifices image and politics alike for the love of his Egyptian queen. Caesar is centred on image – the very nature of his role in power demands it, and his highly rhetorical speeches are testament to this aspect of his character. Cleopatra seems to develop as the play progresses from a character more comparable to Caesar to truly Antony’s lover, ultimately sacrificing the most precious gift – life itself – in favour of an afterlife in his company. Shakespeare presents Antony, Cleopatra, and Caesar as committed only to The language Shakespeare uses in Antony and Cleopatra is concerned overwhelmingly with image and display. As Enobarbus describes the first meeting of the lovers we are drawn in to a world of colour and wealth, ‘The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,/ Burned on the water’. Cleopatra herself is described in even more majestic – even divine – terms, ‘o’erpicturing’ the goddess Venus. Antony himself is ‘the crown of the earth’, whose eyes ‘glowed like plated Mars’, while Caesar is ‘a Jove’, whose ascendancy will bring ‘the time of universal peace’ – an allusion, Rene Weis suggests, to the everlasting kingdom of Christ. However, it is debatable as to whether the characters themselves share the intent of the grand words surrounding them, and if they are as committed to image as this quotation suggests. Antony, in fact, seems to surrender his public image completely for Cleopatra’s sake. The play opens with a comment on the received view, Antony has become a ‘strumpet’s fool’. Indeed, he is willing to sacrifice Rome and his worldly status in virtue of his love for Cleopatra, ‘let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch/ Of the ranged empire fall’. Only absolute political necessity can draw him from Egypt, and even then he recognises that ‘i’th’East my pleasure lies’. His marriage to Octavia angers Cleopatra greatly, but it was enacted only to placate Caesar and is soon rendered useless as he returns promptly to Egypt. Furthermore, his heroic image [he was said by Plutarch to have been like Hercules] is damaged by his preferences, Caesar mocks him as ‘womanly’ while even Antony himself cries at Cleopatra’s servant ‘O, thy vile lady! She has robbed me of my sword!’ In a sense, it appears that Antony has been unmanned by his com... ...d me my robes, put on my crown’ – shows her determination to make a memorable final tableau. On the other hand, and more likely given the divine undertones and implications in the language, she seeks Antony in a life beyond death, realising that life and politics – those ‘baser elements’ – are trivial compared to everlasting love. A conclusion can now be established. Antony is positively unconcerned with display, he sacrifices image and politics alike for the love of his Egyptian queen. Caesar is centred on image – the very nature of his role in power demands it, and his highly rhetorical speeches are testament to this aspect of his character. Cleopatra seems to develop as the play progresses from a character more comparable to Caesar to truly Antony’s lover, ultimately sacrificing the most precious gift – life itself – in favour of an afterlife in his company.

The Causes of the Collapse of the Bretton Woods System

When U. S. President Richard Nixon formally ended the backing of U. S. currency by the gold standard system in 1971, the noble attempts of the Bretton Woods delegates finally ended. . This paper will examine the causes of the death of the Bretton Woods System: Some have blamed it on the changing situation of the international economic system; others blamed it on the failure of the System itself. We will explore the Bretton Woods System, its ideals and contradictions, in an attempt to discern what indeed went wrong.Fixing the exchange rate between the U. S.  dollar and other currencies was doomed to failure because of various principles of macroeconomics which will be analyzed herein. However, in spite of its failures, the Bretton Woods System played a crucial role in the economic development of Europe and Japan in the decades immediately after World War II.Its original purpose was the economic rehabilitation of Europe and Japan, and in this, the Bretton Woods System was indeed succ essful. The collapse of the Bretton Woods System in 1971 could be traced to a number of reasons. The most important of these was the increasing trade imbalance of the U.S. economy. The Cold War between the United States and the USSR drained the U. S. Treasury, leading to deficit spending, and a surge in imports.In particular, the Vietnam War became a veritable black hole of runaway spending. Furthermore, the rehabilitated economies of Europe and Japan soon made up for lost ground, and caught up to the United States’ economy. The U. S. economy, booming throughout the Fifties and Sixties, finally reached the point of deficit in the early 1970s. At this time, the U. S. started to experience massive cash outflow to the rest of the world.This was certainly instrumental in the collapse of the Bretton Woods System, but not the only reason. A second reason for the end of the Bretton Woods System was the lack of autonomy to maintain its workings. As the U. S. currency came to a crisis in the early 1970s, the System collapsed. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the authority to control the currency exchange rate, had no power to stop the System from collapsing, and the System subsequently spiraled out of control.The powerlessness of the IMF was due to the lack of autonomy of the U.S. currency dominance based on the gold standard. In this paper, we will show that these reasons were the main causes of the end of the Bretton Woods System, by analyzing the economic data and considering the economists’ and historians’ arguments. The origin of the Bretton Woods System will be explored to clarify the theory behind the System. Additionally, we will review the world economy of the 1950s, when the Bretton Woods System was working effectively, and compare it to the world economy of the 1960s, when the System began to lose effectiveness.The comparison is necessary to answer to the question why the Bretton Woods System became ineffective although it was func tional at the beginning. This paper will also analyze the structure of the International Monetary Fund, to see how that too was instrumental in bringing the Bretton Woods System to its close. It is important to understand how the IMF had been trying to standardize the currency until 1973, the year in which the world transferred to the exchange currency system from a pegged exchange rates system.The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, better known as the Bretton Woods Conference, was a meeting among 730 delegates representing the 45 Allied nations of the Second World War. The conference was held at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The conference followed the conclusion of the Second World War and convened from July 1 to July 22, 1945. The purpose of the delegates at this Conference was to establish a new global economic order following the trauma of the war, not simply a re-hash of the world economic system of the 1930s.Most economists agreed that that system had not been efficient during the period between world wars. Depression hit the United States in 1929, and recession gripped the world economy in the thirties. While some nations let their currencies float, others set a policy of pegging their currency to gold or other currency. This system had outbreaks of â€Å"competitive devaluation†. In order to keep their reserve at a high level, governments introduced exchange control, restricted the use of foreign currency and imposed higher tariffs barriers to limit the volume of imports.World trade declined because of these restrictions, and the world faced very slow economic recovery in the 1930s. Delegates at the Bretton Woods Conference worked to revamp these short-sighted, restrictive policies. They felt the need to establish economic institutions which would transform the world economy into a well-oiled machine, one which promoted international trade for all countries..The delegates created three major structur es: the International Monetary Fund (IMF); the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or the World Bank; and the International Trade Organization (ITO). However, in 1950, the U.S. Congress nixed the formation of the ITO, and it never got off the ground. In place of the ITO, a treaty was agreed upon by most of the world economic powers and the rest of the world.The treaty was commonly known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which took over the ITO ideology. The other two institutions, IMF and the World Bank, were to take responsibility of being the bi-pillar system of the Post-Second World War global economy. The purpose of the World Bank was to promote development, and that of the International Monetary Fund was to maintain order in the international monetary system.The delegates of the Bretton Woods Conference based the new global economic structure on a code of what they felt to be economic fairness. This code related to a global regime of fixed but adjustable exchange rates. This system of adjustable rates was designed to implement equity on a world economic scale. The adjustable fixed rate provided exchange rate stability in the short run, just like the gold standard system. At the same time, it also allowed the possibility to adjust the exchange rate when a national balance of payment is in a crucial state of disequilibrium.However, the weakness of this adjustable exchange system was that it lacked the stability, the certainty of the gold standard and the flexibility of the flexed exchange rate regime. Despite the demerits of this currency exchange mechanism, the Bretton Woods System worked fairly well in the 1950s and early 1960s. The adjustable-fixed exchange was successful in increasing international trade and supporting the recovery of the economy in Europe and Japan.The system resulted in the per rate system, under which currencies of the member countries were fixed within 1% of the value of the U.S. dollar, which was pegged to the value of gold. With this system, the IMF was successful between 1946 and 1966, although it had its kinks. The Bretton Woods delegates hastened the integration of the world economy, but they could not so easily achieve a smooth currency exchange system, because the destruction of the Second World War was too massive to recover without unilateral action such as discarding the pegged exchange rate system. Some nations set up their own restrictions on trade and currency exchange so that the IMF could not get those countries into the world currency system.Moreover, the ruined European nations requested massive funding from the IMF until 1950. In spite of IMF mistakes, the global economy progressed after 1951. The Fund successfully spread its economic activities to all members, not just to the fund users. However, after 1966, the world economy changed substantially once again. The problems inherent in the Bretton Woods System started to be exposed gradually in the mid-1960s. Richard N. Cooper, in his book The International Monetary System, listed the features of the Bretton Woods System as well its contradictions..The first characteristic of the system was that member countries of the Bretton Woods System would determine their own domestic economic policies. This permitted autonomy of domestic economies, enabling nations to pursue their own internal economic objectives, such as assuring low inflation or achieving the â€Å"natural† unemployment rate. The second feature of the Bretton Woods System, according to Cooper, was that the U. S. currency be pegged to gold. The third feature was that other nations adopted the adjustable-exchange rates system.Cooper argues that these three features of the Bretton Woods System contradicted each other:: Countries could not frame their national economic policies independently and still maintain fixed exchange rates and currency convertibility except by luck and coincidence. That potential conflict w as recognized by the Bretton Woods architects†¦ Cooper suggests that to fix these contradictions, the creators of the system, the delegates, added two elements. One was the establishment of the IMF, and the other was altering exchange rates under the condition that a nation comes to a severe economic imbalance.According to Cooper, the Bretton Woods System architects assumed that new gold production coming into monetary reserves would be an ample supply to fuel adequate growth. The US dollar, they further assumed, would be able to provide for the required liquidity to keep the exchange rate at the fixed level. However, until the 1970s, growth in the global gold demand had been increasing faster than new gold production. World monetary reserves outside the United States increased by $54 billion, a 4. 5 per cent per annum growth rate.United States gold reserves departed to other countries to the tune of $9 billion, while only $4 billion came from new gold production. Foreign excha nge, which was overwhelmingly in dollars as the medium of choice, supplied $30 billion of the growth in reserves. Additionally, the IMF started, in 1970, to provide Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which is the new type of international reserve assets generally called â€Å"paper dollars†. U. S. gold reserves declined dramatically during this period because its stock of gold had gone to much of the rest of the world.The reasons for this exodus of American capital were complicated and controversial. Military expenditures involved with the Cold War and the Vietnam War predominate. As the result of heightened expenditures, the United States tried to increase its money supply regardless of being able to back it up with gold reserves. The rest of the world accumulated these lost U. S. reserves until the beginning of the 1970s, which caused uncertainty in the value of the US dollar itself. The second reason for the exodus of U. S. capital was that the European and Japanese economies had caught up to the United States’ economy.Due to the increased economic clout of revived nations, the United States began suffering from the trade deficit. European nations and Japan were taking advantage of the underestimated price of their currency, enabling them to increase the volume of their exports. The United States suffered because of the high price of the dollar relative to other currencies. After accumulation of the wealth, European countries and Japan embarked on converting reserve surpluses into dollar reserves. They practiced this policy because of the interest that could be earned on U. S. dollars.Moreover, if it ever became necessary the U. S. dollar could be converted to gold. These were miscalculations of the International Monetary Fund creators.. In these ways, the Bretton Woods economic structure was undermined, as the nominal price and real value of U. S. currency came into conflict. In 1970, in order to restore the system, the IMF introduced a new inter national reserve asset. Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were expected to supplement the other components of global reserves, i. e. U. S. dollars and gold. The need for liquidity in the international monetary system was the reason for the creation of SDRs.In 1970, when the SDRs were first allocated, the United States had the largest share, totaling about $867 million, followed by the United Kingdom, at $410 million. According to Acheson, â€Å"A problem†¦ is the prospect of conflict over the amount of SDRs to be created. † The development of the new asset system was eventually unsuccessful. Richard Harper argues that the failure of IMF came from a fundamental problem within the system itself. The problem, he says, is that a fixed exchange-rate system requires national governments to arrange their monetary policy in problematic ways.If, for instance, one nation has continuously higher inflation rate than others’, it cannot compete in the world market, and its citizens would be buying more expensive imported products, leading to trade deficits. Therefore, the government has to be adjusting to its trading partners all the time. Harper goes on to say that under the pre-1914 gold standard system, there would no such problem because the inflation rate would spill over to the countries around it and achieve a convergence. By contrast, under the par value system, the mechanism of self-converging is missing.Harper summarizes his thoughts about monetary cooperation between nations: Lack of co-ordination of monetary policies and, in particular, the implementation of inappropriate policies by any individual member, resulted in the countries in question facing runs on their currency when there was perceived to be an imbalance between their internal monetary policies and external exchange rates. He argues that this systematic flaw was closely related to the ultimate obsolescence of the Bretton Woods System. Instability of the System came to a head, and it co llapsed, like a house of cards.The real signal of its death was in 1971, when U. S. officials declared suspending the convertibility between dollars and gold, making other nations’ currency float. The fixed exchange rates between U. S. dollars and other world currencies disappeared, and the Bretton Woods System went the way of the dinosaurs—extinction. After its collapse, on March 19, 1973, the central banks of the world economic powers gave up their commitment to stabilize exchange rates between their currencies and the dollar.After suspending the convertibility from dollars to gold, the fixed exchange rates between U. S. currency and others began to disappear, even though many nations insisted on keeping the pegged exchange rates of the Bretton Woods System. Riccardo says: It now seems clear that the really essential characteristic of Bretton Woods was not the maintenance of party but the convertibility of the dollar†¦ After March 1973, the central banks rapidly discovered that it was simply not possible to abandon exchange rates to market forces completely. In this way, the Bretton Woods System lost its key component—convertibility from dollars to gold–in 1971, then an ancillary key component—adjustable-fixed exchange rates in 1973.Henceforth, currency valuations were determined according to market fluctuations. The IMF lost the function of setting exchange rates.. Conclusion The Bretton Woods System came to an end in 1973, almost three decades after the Conference. The System contained contradictions and flaws since its foundation in 1945. Some economists argue that the system’s defects were negligible, and that the problem lay in the changing world economy, not the Bretton Woods System itself. However, it is undeniable that the mechanisms of the Bretton Woods System were not flexible enough to adjust to a changing world economy.Adaptability is the key to survivability, and in this sense, the Bretton Woods Sys tem was doomed to failure. The revivals of European nations and Japan were predictable, given the scope of international policy to revive these moribund economies. More than thirty years have passed since the collapse of the Bretton Woods System. Some economists say that Bretton Woods II is emerging in the world today.. The fact that China pegs its currency to the US dollar seems similar to the situation at the Bretton Woods Conference of yesteryear.Because of the fixed exchange rate system between the Chinese Renminbi and the U. S. dollar, the United States suffers a huge trade deficit with China today. . Matthias Kaelberer argues that Bretton Woods II would be different from the classic one, for the Bretton Woods System from 1944 to 1973 was agreed upon by its members, while the emerging system of today comes from Chinese de facto unilateral behavior pegging its currency to the U. S. currency. However, he also emphasizes that, no matter what their origin, reviewing the classic Bre tton Woods System will be helpful and important to predict the consequences of the Chinese-American fixed exchange rates relationship.The Bretton Woods Conference helped ease the world’s economy through a tumultuous period after the Second World War. Although the economic solutions they espoused seem anachronistic today, we should also thank the architects for playing a vital role in restoring some semblance of equilibrium to a world in tatters.BibliographyAcheson A. L. K. , Chant, J. F. and Prachowny M. F. J. Bretton Woods Revisited: Evaluations of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Papers Delivered at a Conference at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.Toronto, On, Canada: University of Toronto Press. 1972.Chacholiades, Miltiades. International Monetary Theory and Policy. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1978.Cooper, Richard N. The International Monetary System: Essays in World Economics. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press. 1987. Harper, Richard. Inside the IMF: Ethnography of Documents, Technology, and Organizational Action. San Diego: Academic Press. 1998.Parboni, Riccardo. The Dollar & its Rivals. London, England: Verso. 1981. Witteveen, H. J and Szabo-Pelsoczi, Miklos (ed. ).Fifty Years after Bretton Woods: The New Challenge of East-West Partnership for Economic Progress. Brookfield, Vt. , USA: Avebury. 1996Stone, Randall. Lending Credibility: The International Monetary Fund and the Post-communist Transition. Princeton University Press, 2002 Matthias Kaelberer. â€Å"Structural Power and the Politics of International Monetary Relations. † The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies. Washington: Fall 2005. Vol. 30, Iss. 3;http://proquest. umi. com. myaccess. library. utoronto. ca/pqdlink? Ver=1&Exp=04-03-2012&FMT=7&DID=911841951&RQT=309 Accessed on April 3, 2007. Via ProQuest.

Black Market Drugs Essay

Barbiturate and amphetamine addiction continues to give cause for national concern. Each year hundreds of thousands of pills manage to slip into the black market and are sold illegally, often to young people. Some observers, including the head of a congressional crime committee that spent two years probing the problem of illegal drug trafficking,’ believe that the drug manufacturers cannot be blamed if their products are put to illegitimate use. Do drug manufacturers have any moral responsibility to ensure that their products are not put to such use? In this paper I am going to discuss the six different ethical theories, including utilitarianism, kantian ethics, natural law theory, virtue theory, care ethics, and symphonology. The first theory that will be discussed is utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions. The basic principle of utilitarianism is The Principle of Utility or The Greatest Happiness Principle, Itht states that we ought to do that which produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. In regard to the illegitimate use of prescription drugs, drug manufactures do have a moral responsibility to ensure that their products are not put to such use. Utilitarianism provides an objective way to resolve conflicts of self-interest and encourages a realistic and result oriented approach to moral decision making. Using the utilitarian theory, the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people, is a challenge. If you were simply listening to the general public which is filled with hundreds of thousands of users they would say that the drug manufacnturers have no right getting involved because they know that if drug manufacturer’s did get involved that would make it more difficult for the users to obtain these drugs. If you take a poll of drug users family members, close friends, and anyone who may have had a prescription drug problem they would say that the drug manufactures need to get involved to make it more difficult for the users, especially minors, to get their hands on these drugs. The greatest amount of good would come about only if the people who truly needed these drugs for the purpose in which they were designed used them and the drugs were not being sold on the black market. Drug manufacturer’s should get involved at some level to regulate this situation but they should be held responsible for what happens when they land on the shelves of the stores. At that point, it is the stores responsibility. The manufacturers and store owners both have a moral responsibility. Second is Kantian ethics. Kant believed that moral rules can, in principle, be known as a result of reason alone and are not based on observation. Kant held that only when we act from duty does our action have moral worth. Good will is the only thing that is good in itself. His categorical imperative states that an action is morally right if and only if we can will that the maxim (or principle) represented by our action be a universal law. There are three alternative formulations of the categorical imperative, the first two are the primary formulations. The first is that an act is right only if the actor would be willing to be so treated if the positions of the parties were reversed. The second is that one must always act so as to treat other people as ends, never merely as means. The third is the importance of motivation and of acting on principle, it is not enough to just do the right thing; an action has moral worth only if its done from a sense of duty that is, from a desire to do the right thing for its own sake. Kant’s ethics gives us firm standards that do not depend on results, it injects a humanistic element into moral decision making and stresses the importance of acting on principle and from a sense of duty. With regard to the fact that a congressional crime committee thinks that drug manufacturer’s cannot be blamed if their products are put to illegitimate use would be ridiculous. According to Kant, moral rules can be known as a result of reason alone and are not based on observation. The facts show that there is an ever growing problem with black market drugs and the drug manufactures need to do something to help stop this growing epidemic. Even though the drug manufacturer’s may not agree with what is happening with their drugs, all they see are dollars signs and the more people who abuse their drug equals more money for them. Kant would want them to act on the principle that their drug is harmful to people taking advantage of the high they can get from it. The drug manufacturer’s need to be held somewhat responsible for what is going on right in front of their eyes. Third is natural law theory. The essence of natural law theory is that we should further the inherent ends of human nature and not frustrate human fulfillment. There are 3 tenets in natural law theory. These tenets provide the meaning and the basis of the theory. ) moral law is accessible to human reason; 2) moral law is based on human nature; 3) moral law is universally applicable. In other words, natural moral law is knowable by human reason, applies to all human beings, and is grounded in human nature. Natural law theory is very appealing since it has objective moral values and it equates good with human flourishing. According to the natural law theory you should never interfere with human flourishing. Drug manufactures recognize tha t when used improperly their drugs can be very harmful, so they put warning labels on the bottles. Why then do they know that their drugs are being used illegitimately and do nothing about it? According to natural law theory you should not frustrate human fulfillment but in this situation you need to get in between the people who are addicts and not allow them to add to their addictive ways. If nothing is done by the drug manufactures there will be no human flourishing which is the main principle of the natural law theory. If people keep abusing these prescription drugs and the drug manufacturers don’t do anything these people will eventually die of an overdose or other drug related causes. Natural law theory has objective moral values and with this situation, the moral values should definitely come into play with the drug manufacturer’s and they need to take moral responsibility for what is happening. Fourth is virtue theory. Virtue theory describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior, rather than rules, consequentialism, or social context, which derives rightness or wrongness from the outcome of the act itself rather than character. The virtue theory derives the golden mean which is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. Virtue ethics is all about the human character. The drug manufacturing companies need to realize that what is happening is unethical and is reflecting upon them. People are looking at them to make the corrections and to step in and change something so that this issue doesn’t progress into something bigger than it already is. Virtue ethics is about the human character, even though these companies aren’t human per say, they affect the lives of many humans and a lot of people are being harmed by what is going on behind the walls of drug manufacturers. The drug manufacturing companies should be held morally responsible for the illegitimate use of these drugs. I don’t believe that there is directly anything they can do to stop the illegitimate use of the drugs but they can step in and do something to make the drugs less readily available to purchase and consume how they were originally intended to be consumed. Fifth is care ethics, which provides a balance for the one-sided traditional ethics of the impersonal and the universal, for it promotes the connectedness of humans. With care ethics the primary moral obligation is to prevent harm and help people. It is concerned with relatedness. The ethics of care is a normative ethical theory often considered a type of virtue ethics. Virtue ethics emphasizes the importance of human relationships and emotion based virtues. With care ethics drug manufacturer’s definitely have a moral responsibility to ensue that their products are not put to illegitimate use. Care ethics is all about preventing harm and helping people, which is exactly what the drug manufacturer’s need to do. They need to step in and put their foot down. These actions cannot continue to happen, it is causing so much harm and it not helping anyone. These drugs were intended to be used in one way and the fact that they are being used in a completely different way is morally wrong in itself, but the fact that the manufacturer’s know that this is happening and nothing is being done is another issue. If they were to step in hopefully that would slow down and eventually stop this growing epidemic. They need to focus on the prevention of harm to people who abuse their product. Sixth is symphonology, which is based on the supposition that an agreement exists between all rational beings. These agreements are contingent upon the bioethical standards of fidelity, beneficence, objectivity, self-assertiveness, freedom and autonomy. Symphonology is based off of the bioethical standards which are, fidelity is adherence to the terms of the agreement. It means faithfulness or commitment or promise to uphold the agreement. Objectivity is a person’s capacity to be aware of things as they are and to be able to act on this awareness. Beneficence means to do good at least do no harm. Freedom means to act independently. It is a person’s capacity to take independent action based on his own evaluation of the situation. Self-Assertion or privacy is a person’s power to control his own time and effort, it is self-ownership. Autonomy is the essential character structure of an individual person. The drug manufacturing companies need to abide by the bioethical standards in order to take moral responsibility for the drug epidemic that is occurring in our nation today. Will they do that? Probably not. Symphonology states that an agreement exists between all rational beings, if the drug manufacturing companies don’t take moral responsibility for the drug problem going on there will never be an agreement between the people who know what is going on and want to do something about it and the addicts themselves. The theories that I believe best answer the dilemma are Kantian ethics and also care ethics. Kant’s ethics gives us firm standards that do not depend on results; it injects a humanistic element into moral decision making and stresses the importance of acting on principle and from a sense of duty. With regards the drug manufacturer’s being held morally responsible for the every growing illegitimate usage of the drugs using Kant’s ethics they would need to think more humanistic and make the morally right decision which would be to step in and take action with the drug problem. Even though they can’t completely stop the illegal usage of their drugs the manufacturer’s can set regulations so that only certain people can get their hands on the drugs. The second theory that best answers the dilemma is care ethics. Care ethics is all about preventing harm and helping people. That is exactly what the manufacturing companies need to be doing. There are so many different approaches that they could take to slow down and stop this problem. They could use different ingredients so that they don’t have the harmful affects on people or the addictive qualities. The congressional crime committee that said that the drug manufacturer’s cannot be blamed if their products are put to illegitimate use, is absurd. They should absolutely be held responsible. If these companies used care ethics they would be running a morally sound and ever growing drug manufacturing company, instead of being scrutinized because their drugs are being sold illegally on the black market and are very addictive. Even though these companies aren’t actual humans and they don’t have feelings or morals like a human will, they are run by people and it is up to those people to make the right decisions. With care ethics these people can guide their company in the right direction and abide by the care ethics standard which is to prevent harm and help people. I believe with care ethics and with Kantian ethics the companies should be held morally responsible and they will over achieve every obstacle put in their way and run a morally successful company.