Voodoo Anything Analysis

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Voodoo Anyone? Christopher Warden breaks down economics into a fool proof explanation, and uses terms references which a dummy could understand. As I read this informative book I gathered an understanding for the way in which our economy works, as well as the unseen ways in which our government handles the issues that affect our everyday life. In the first chapter, the author discusses what prices are the difference between the price of things, and the cost of things. He breaks down what the stores charge us in order to sell the product at a price we will pay, so the store can still make a profit on the item. He explains that from the buyer’s standpoint, what he or she pays is a cost. That is not the case, the sellers…show more content…
In the next chapter we learn how sellers set the prices in which we pay for an item, why things cost what they do and not what they are worth. The key to prices are sellers that can sell their products as close to the cost of making the item. In a regular market, prices are the key. Businesses cannot afford to charge a higher price, customers are normally looking for a lower price and the lower the better, in today’s economy. Many customers ask the question, “What affects prices?” We learn that things happen beyond the sellers’ and buyers’ control to raise and lower prices in today’s market. This change may be due to weather conditions, new transportation options, or an increase in the demand for a product or service. Oil companies are a prime example of the affects in pricing, and adjusting the prices of gasoline as supply and demand change. The government has many ways to affect prices, by taxes and subsidies, which lead us into the next chapter. How do you fix the prices? Government in a sense plays the blame game on the other politicians of the past, and those who they serve with now.…show more content…
A monopoly is where you can set prices almost everywhere you want, and there is no other competition. This is referred to as predatory pricing, where companies charge a price lower than production costs. These companies believe their competitors can’t afford the loses. Cable companies don’t worry about competition due to the protection they enjoy from the government. The cable companies get away with this by claiming they do not have competition, cities award them the contract by providing coverage, even though they may not have the lowest price. So who’s to say that state regulators from unofficially granting a monopoly to a provider with incentives? The monopolies set their price high, politicians reap the rewards and were forced to take it and like it, or go without. Other monopolies that doing business in this manner are electric companies, transportation and telephone companies. Financial markets are another element in our economy which the government once again has their hands in our pockets. We discuss the stock market, buying and selling stocks in order to make a profit or a loss. If a stock does not do well, the investors will sell in order not to lose
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