461–470 of 774 posts
DeBeers today controls 35% of the diamonds. They are not big enough any more to control and manipulate diamond prices - as they used to before. Diamond prices are still high, and rising because of the demand. The demand in countries like India and China is rising. Diamonds and jewelry is the modern dowry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry Its inherent value is that it shows people that the family is well to do. Thin…
It's linked within the article, but it's worth pointing out that "Have you ever tried to sell a diamond"[1] is very much worth your time, and has been discussed here many times. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4535611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1405698 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1110283 1: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you...
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De Beers isn't a monopolist and hasn't been once since 2000, when key producers in Canada, Australia, Russia, India, etc, started selling diamonds outside the channels. The negative externality caused by diamonds is tiny in comparison to the ones caused by fossil fuels. For individuals, there are reasonable, cost-effective substitutes to reduce oil consumption. I take an electric train to work and walk everywhere els…
People choose to drive, they choose to live in places like Silicon Valley where driving is part of the culture, they choose to live in suburbs, etc. Not in the USA. Building anything other than car-dependent sprawl is illegal in the USA. The few areas grandfathered in before New Deal laws and regulations in the 1930s are expensive for their scarcity. It's a major driver of NY and SF real estate prices that you're not…
You might think such a development would destroy De Beers, but I'm not so sure. Perhaps girls would simply switch from wanting a 'diamond ring' to wanting a 'diamond ring with dug-out-of-the-ground certificate'?
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Then buy used (the diamond) and pay for a nice ring design. But don't tell her.
My grandfather ran a grocery store throughout the Depression, and he accumulated a large selection of diamond rings from cash strapped customers. When my father and his brother were getting married, they had their choice of the rings. I've always wondered how other diamond rings get recycled or removed from the market. Diamonds are forever, after all, so why doesn't the price collapse from being awash in used stones…
De Beers marketing worked on you. It is not that hard to destroy diamonds. Google "burning diamonds" for examples.
DeBeers today controls 35% of the diamonds. They are not big enough any more to control and manipulate diamond prices - as they used to before. Diamond prices are still high, and rising because of the demand. The demand in countries like India and China is rising. Diamonds and jewelry is the modern dowry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry Its inherent value is that it shows people that the family is well to do. Thin…
It is the demand that I am unhappy with.
But a big part of the world give a lot of importance to status and social standing. This is precisely the notion that has made money for companies like Rolex. And the haute couture fashion industry.
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Have you ever been pregnant or had a child? It's 9 months of misery punctuated by 12 hours of stress and agony, relieved only by the epidural. That's followed by weeks of pain and bleeding, and major bodily changes of various degrees of permanence (stretched out abdominal muscles, stretched out hips). Oh, and post-partum depression. And that's if you're lucky. Childbirth can last way longer than 12 hours, it can invo…
Driving a car is a lot more dangerous than birth. And most of us do that. But, yes, giving birth can involve complications.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maternal_death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-re...
One day it will be possible to cheaply manufacture man-made diamonds that are 100% indistinguishable from natural diamonds. You might think such a development would destroy De Beers, but I'm not so sure. Perhaps girls would simply switch from wanting a 'diamond ring' to wanting a 'diamond ring with dug-out-of-the-ground certificate'?
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Yup, I've had a similar conversation. Basically came down to some variation on "I don't ask for a lot (she doesn't), but I want the diamond ring."
>>Basically came down to some variation on "I don't ask for a lot (she doesn't), but I want the diamond ring." As some one newly married, I have observed the following. 1. See . Demand for it. 2. When rationally explained why we can't buy it. 3. Simply state.. "I don't ask for a lot, but I want the ." 4. I buy it. Repeat steps 1 - 4 endlessly.
There are a lot of girls out there you haven't met yet. Go find one who gets you.
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But all this is something that we don't say in polite company, because we have fully bought into the mythologies about marriage that are in vogue at the moment: that it's just about "love" and all that matters is a mate that makes you "happy" and that it's an arrangement that is costless to enter into and exit out of. What you so casually disregard as "mythologies of marriage" is the result of striving for equality.…
Indeed, it is arguably more of a concern for women who are more educated and thus more "equal" in relationships with men. A worry among my ambitious female friends is getting stuck in a relationship where they are both the primary caregiver children and the primary breadwinner. And it's not an idle concern. Society pushes the role of primary caregiver on women. I'm father of the year when people find out I take the n…
Edit: And that reads like I'm competing with you. I'm not, because that just as bad. Remembering the loud comments and idiocy of strangers makes me a touch wild.