Huge Diamond Deposits Revealed In Russia 243
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from the Christian Science Monitor: "'Russia has just declassified news that will shake world gem markets to their core: the discovery of a vast new diamond field containing 'trillions of carats,' enough to supply global markets for another 3,000 years. The Soviets discovered the bonanza back in the 1970s beneath a 35-million-year-old, 62-mile diameter asteroid crater in eastern Siberia known as Popigai Astroblem. They decided to keep it secret, and not to exploit it, apparently because the USSR's huge diamond operations at Mirny, in Yakutia, were already producing immense profits in what was then a tightly controlled world market."
Wow, this is REALLY old news (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember learning about DeBeers and having this bit of information come up at some point.... lots of people in Russia dying mysterious deaths surrounding the topic of diamonds in Russia.
Diamonds are fairly plentiful and common. That they are expensive and considered valuable is marketing... or racketeering... whatever you want to call it.
Diamonds are Carbon - Common as Dirt (Score:5, Insightful)
Unlike Gold, or even many other gemstones which have a rarity that enhances value? Diamonds are only of spectacular value, when they achieve very large carat size, without flaws or inclusions.
But there's a mystique , deliberately crafted, to conflate the value of a 2-carat Zales engagement ring with something like the Koh-i-noor.
Re:And how will this (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope. The price of diamonds is completely artificial, agreed upon by all the suppliers and does not reflect their actual value or supply availability. It's the biggest case of non-penalized price fixing in the history of the world.
I am curious if there's going to be a huge diamond down there... I'm assuming that they formed from the pressure created by the impact...
Re:And how will this (Score:4, Insightful)
Diamonds are common as dirt. [slashdot.org]
Diamonds, like paper (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah it's almost like someone decided to put a funny pattern on some paper, cut it up into small rectangles, and declare it worth something. Can you imagine people accepting something like that?! A completely artificially-restricted supply of controlled by one organization! What next, they arrest people who try and print their own!?
In seriousness, there is no value beyond consensus. Gold is not any more intrinsically valuable than diamonds (or fiat currency!); people simply agree to trade a certain amount of one thing (paper, bank balance, etc) for it. This is why people pay for BitCoins (and other virtual goods), why currency fluctuates, and in essence, how the economy works.
(The malleability of gold and other arguments of function are entirely irrelevant; people always agree on value for some reason, from "I have too much money and I felt like it," to "I need it for my research." Reason is a constant, and one reason is not inherently better or more valid than another.)
Re:And how will this (Score:5, Insightful)
The price of the diamonds may go down, but the amount of money you are required to spend on your wife to demonstrate your love for her will remain fixed. Bigger diamond, more diamonds, platinum band, all these options are open to her to make sure you don't spend less on her than she expects. And she expects
you to spend enough on her that you notice the cost. Not enough to cause resentment, but enough to delay discretionary and hobby purchases for yourself for anything up to year or so, depending on the occasion (e.g. an eternity ring).
This will elevate her status amongst her peers, confirming to them and her family that she made the right choice in a lifetime mate: someone who has the financial wherewithal to make these purchases and someone who has an emotional attachment to her that's strong enough to actually do it. It will also increase her financial self-worth, giving her something she can personally contribute to the family (at high emotional cost) in times of great need, or something of intrinsic and emotional value she can hand on to favoured descendants. At worst, she can flog it off if you separate.
Buy these things for her, and be happy with your lot. With luck, you may get a blowjob on your birthday.
Re:And how will this (Score:5, Insightful)
If marketing-men tell the women that men need to buy these to "prove" their "love", they can live off the labor of those enslaved by their little scheme.
When I see diamonds, its obvious that these things are absolutely useless for anything but some rather esoteric applications, which would demand the perfection of a manufactured diamond, or a run of the mill abrasive.
If its glittery jewelry, go for the optical stuff - it can be manufactured much cheaper than trying to find them in nature. Hell, so is a Coke bottle.
Why aren't women as enthused over a gift of carborundum? Marketing.
Its much like religion, where microphone-men hock up all sorts of stuff about demonstrating one's faith while passing the plate.
Marketing heads tell us to work our a** off and give them the nectar of our efforts, and we - being the obedient sheeple we are - obey.
The marketing head gets rich while the rest of us try to earn a wage.
DeBeers gets rich by convincing men that they have to be paid before we can get access to women's heavenly parts.
And we pay. And pay. And pay. We are sooooo dumb!.
Re:And how will this (Score:5, Insightful)
DeBeers gets rich by convincing men that they have to be paid before we can get access to women's heavenly parts.
Would it not be the women who are being convinced? I mean otherwise it wouldn't matter.
Re:And how will this (Score:4, Insightful)
3.1. Announce it woldwide and start frenetically building extraction mines
3.2. Watch the prices of diamonds tumble while you build the extraction mines due to other providers making sellout contracts to insure buyers
3.3. Buy an shitload of diamonds at reduced price and demolish the extraction mines
4. sell the diamonds once prices get restored for a profit