Coffee Producers Cartel
A cartel explained by economists is a method of controlling the supply
and demand effect and restricting prices from continual decrease. A
cartel is an unlawful association or group of manufacturers or
suppliers who get together to maintain high prices and restrict
competition. In its simplest terms, a cartel is an agreement between
businesses not to compete with each other. The agreement is usually
verbal and often informal. Typically, cartel members may agree on:
· prices
· output levels
· discounts
· credit terms
· which customers they will supply
· which areas they will supply
Cartels are most successful in areas where there is little
competition, the product has no commodities, communication channels
between competitors are already established and the industry is
suffering from excess capacity or there is general recession. Although
they can be helpful if you are a member of a cartel, you could be
fined up to 10 per cent of your UK turnover for up to three years.
Most producers are better off agreeing to a tacit agreement where by
there is an agreement between firms on an informal basis where nothing
is recorded officially.
Coffee is currently the second largest commodity market in the world
behind oil. The market expands across the entire globe and its effects
reach the developed and developing countries alike. Most cocoa beans
are grown in the developing countries and have been done so for the
past century but in recent times the cost of cocoa has rapidly
decreased. As the price of the cocoa beans decrease it has caused
large-scale problems in the market and over...
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...ers will have no choice to agree and thus
cause problems on a price basis for consumers.
The effect of a cartel from the coffee producers on consumers may also
mean that the quality of cocoa from the countries that produce high
quality cocoa will decrease. This is because as the retailers give in
to the demands of the coffee producers it will mean that the countries
that develop high quality cocoa will see the fact that retailers will
have no choice apart from buying there cocoa. Thus the producers will
start to decrease their work effort, as they will notice that whatever
happens they will get a continual amount of profit. As work effort
decrease it will mean that the producers will care less about the
cocoa and thus the quality of the beans will decrease and thus
directly effect the interest of the consumers.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduria General de la Republica, PGR) had issued information related to the conformation of the seven principal drug cartels present at Mexico:
A drug cartel is a combination of drug manufacturing and drug transportation organizations under one person’s leadership. While there is numerous drug cartels around the world the Mexican cartels have arguably more power than most in regards to territory and membership. This power has allowed them to have main control in not only Mexico but in the United States as well making them a key player in the drug trade. In 2006, the Mexican government challenged multiple drug cartels such as the Sinaloa cartel, The Los Zetas, and the Gulf cartel, beginning the Mexican Drug War. This war has gone on for the past ten years and is still continuing today, causing the death of 10,000 people a year on average. The Mexican Drug War is having a negative impact
Mexico’s drugs wars as well as bloody drug cartels are echoed in a controversial folk music genre commonly known as narco corridos or simply as drug ballads. They tell the stories allied to shootouts, drug lords, betrayals including daring criminal operations. Narco corridos are not a new style in Mexican music, in fact, they have been around for years, and they are popular among the old and the young. This genre has evolved to be modern fugitive music that fuses the emotional responses of antique ballads with the tense gravel of mobster rap. From global idols to rural artists documenting their neighborhood current events in the regions subjugated by guerilla war, narco corridos provides the songwriters in their homes with unique but artistic superiority, investigating the heartland of the infamous Mexican drug trafficking as well as publicizing municipal midpoints such as Los Angeles, in addition to Mexico City.
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
The Mexican drug cartel has been estimated to have been profiting thirty billion dollars a year – yes, BILLION. The United States has also been estimated to generously have taken part in ten to anywhere up to possibly twenty-five of that thirty billion per year! That kind of money can make almost anyone contemplate if college is the right path for them. It also gives you a small understanding as to why some of these underprivileged people would even want to be involved with such a risky industry. As a horrible artist by the name of Macklemore once said “follow the formula: violence, drugs, and sex sells”, it’s only fitting that such a lucrative business like the cartel would be involved in all three of these things, right? The cartels involvements with violence, business industries, and political corruption have all affected the economy in Mexico.
Among the multitude of American corporations, few stand out like the United Fruit Company. Reviled the world over, United Fruit was one of America’s most notable early multinational corporations. Operating all over Latin America and peddling their produce across the globe, United Fruit would get its start in Costa Rica, a small Central American country nestled between Nicaragua and Panama. The decision to attempt to modernize Costa Rica by General Tomás Guardia would prove to be a fateful one that forever altered the course of Central America.
The Mexican drug cartels not only smuggle drugs to the U.S., but also distribute their narcotic drugs. They also finance terrorist organizations, assassinate their rivals, families, and anyone that comes in their way. They are a violent and cruel criminal organization. The Mexican drug cartels are not the ones anyone would want to meet.
Mexico is a country rich in tradition, history and culture. Unfortunately, Mexico has not been talked about for any of those descriptions I mentioned above lately. Mexico has become a country full of death and violence. The Mexican government has been fighting a war with drug traffickers since December 2006. At the same time, drug cartels have fought each other for control of territory. More than 60,000 people have been killed (CNN). Despite the “war” launched at these multi-billion dollar organized crime groups, Mexico has not been able to stop its slide as a failed state. Almost every day there seems to be either dead bodies lying on the ground, a school closed due to vandalism, disappeared people, or bullet-riddled houses and cars. Sadly, there is not much the citizens of Mexico can do to ask for justice and change to the mess they are living in right now. So who is to blame for all of this? The Mexican drug cartels have completely taken over Mexico. They have become powerful through corruption and violence. The cartels use their power to intimidate and even murder anyone who tries to get in their way. They do not have a problem with decapitating heads in order to make a statement. The drug cartels also use their money to gain power. Given the amount of money they have, the cartels have millions of dollars invested in keeping authorities off their business. They can be very effective in bribing government officials at all levels, from border patrol just patrolling the border to state and high ranking federal officials. Given the resources they have, they can reach out and kill government officials at all levels. Since government officials are faced with bribes and or certain death, even the most unbreakable are caut...
Over the last several decades, violence has consumed and transformed Mexico. Since the rise of dozens of Mexican cartels, the Mexican government has constantly been fighting an ongoing war with these criminal organizations. The cartel organizations have a primary purpose of managing and controlling illegal drug trafficking operations in Central America and South America to the United States. Violence on a massive and brutal scale has emerged due to the nature of the illegal drug trade. Because the drug trade is vastly widespread, cartels are often fighting one another and competing in business. Mexican authorities count at least 12 major cartels, but also talk of an untold numbers of smaller splinter groups. (Taipei Times). Five cartels from Mexico have risen to become the extremely powerful amongst all the drug organizations operating in Mexico. The Guadalajara Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel. These organizations, along with other distinguished Mexican cartels, have plagued Mexico with violence, terror, and fear due to the essence and nature of illegal drug trafficking.
The Mafia is a secret criminal organization that has great economic and political control over large parts of Sicilian society and operates both criminal and legitimate enterprises in the United States. It is believed to have started during Sicily's late Middle Ages, beginning as separate bonds of strong-arm enforcers hired by local landowners. It eventually evolved into a network of independent groups governing in rural areas. With the Sicilian immigration of the late 19th century, the Mafia began to operate in several large United States cities. During the period of Prohibition it monopolized the trade in bootleg liquor and controlled loan sharking, gambling, and prostitution. Competing Mafia families established mutually recognized territories, reaching agreement by negotiation or by intimidation. By the mid-1930 the Mafia had taken on the institutionalized structure that is now typical of organized crime in the United States.
"A businessman, and a business woman sit across from each other in negotiations. The man proposes four thousand pesos, and the woman says she can't afford that much. She counter-offers with twenty-five hundred pesos. The man agrees and leaves. This was a weekly payment for the protection of the woman's local business against the Juarez Cartel." (Lacey, M. 2010).
America is a capitalist society. It should come to a surprise when we live like this daily. We work for profit. We’ll buy either for pleasure or to sell later for profit. It should come to no surprise that our food is made the same way because we are what we eat. We are capitalist that eat a capitalist meal. So we must question our politics. Is our government system to blame for accepting and encouraging monopolies?
Many people know of cartels and drug trafficking, however, they do not realize how serious of a problem it is becoming. Every day there are hundreds of drugs transported into the United States from Latin America, mostly coming from Mexico and Columbia. These cartels are becoming smarter and more creative with their ways of smuggling drugs. They have become ruthless and will do whatever it takes to get their supplies into the country. To better understand how cartels work, you must understand their ways of transporting drugs and how creative they have become with it. Cartels will go as far as using tunnels, boats, planes, vehicles, donkeys and mules to transport all of their drugs.
The CSD (carbonated soft drink) industry is one that is very competitive. A few firms dominate this industry, most notably Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. This is due to substantial barriers to entry. Cadbury-Schweppes, producer of products such as 7up and Dr. Pepper is the third leading company in this industry. Due to the dominance of Coca Cola and Pepsi, Cadbury-Schweppes faces the daunting task of having to fight for market share and survive in this fiercely competitive industry. Using economic analysis for support, Cadbury-Schweppes will need to use its strengths in the non-cola categories to compete in this CSD industry.
Conviction may result in civil disabilities or loss of liberty. Penalties potentially include fines, imprisonment or both.