intrinsically worth pretty much nothing.
yes a girls best friend too ... but seriously, you've probably got old scratched records that are worth more than the 10 carat rock worn by the local talent-less celebrity.
How mad is that ted ?
Theres enough of them out there for everyone to have a cup full of them.
DeBeers however, in a move of epic crafty bastardry and Mr Burns-iness own and/or simply buy up the supply. So turning something with the actual value of a potato into something that some people will spend a months wages on.
I only found out about this the other day, did any of yis previously know about this folly. And can we do the same with turf. Are there any other similar shenanigans like this going on that the world should really know about.
Or while we're at it, what other large scale, entire-world screwing scams do you know of.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rohin-dhar/diamonds-are-bull****_b_3708562.html
(use arrows to scan down page - page dodgey)
Americans exchange diamond rings as part of the engagement process, because in 1938 De Beers decided that they would like us to. Prior to a stunningly successful marketing campaign 1938, Americans occasionally exchanged engagement rings, but wasn't a pervasive occurrence. Not only is the demand for diamonds a marketing invention, but diamonds aren't actually that rare. Only by carefully restricting the supply has De Beers kept the price of a diamond high.You see, diamonds aren't really even that rare.
Before 1870, diamonds were very rare. They typically ended up in a Maharaja's crown or a royal necklace. In 1870, enormous deposits of diamonds were discovered in Kimberley, South Africa. As diamonds flooded the market, the financiers of the mines realized they were making their own investments worthless. As they mined more and more diamonds, they became less scarce and their price dropped.
The diamond market may have bottomed out were it not for an enterprising individual by the name of Cecil Rhodes. He began buying up mines in order to control the output and keep the price of diamonds high. By 1888, Rhodes controlled the entire South African diamond supply, and in turn, essentially the entire world supply. One of the companies he acquired was eponymously named after its founders, the De Beers brothers.
