DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER Invented by o

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

Invented by one of the richest companies in the world, Diamonds
are Forever is a slogan which does not bear close examination.
Common and untradeable
Diamonds are neither valuable nor rare. Though fabulously expensive, they are actually one of the most common minerals on earth. In the West cut diamonds outnumber cars. They are almost untradeable as a commodity. Their resale value is significantly lower than their original cost, and nowadays they can easily be substituted in all their industrial uses. In fact, without the tradition and romance, which have always given diamonds their sentimental value, they would be almost worthless.
Artificially high prices
The high price of diamonds is a triumph of the commercial clout and marketing genius of De Beers, the South African conglomerate that has an 80% stake in world diamond supply. By strictly regulating the mining and distribution of diamonds, De Beers has managed to keep prices artificially high. And by turning the diamond into a universal symbol of romance it has prevented second-hand diamonds from flooding the market and forcing prices down. Even in times of hardship people are reluctant to part with their diamonds. De Beers knows that if they ever did part with them, the market would be saturated overnight.
Supply outstrips demand
World supply of diamonds has consistently outstripped demand, so logically diamonds should be cheap. If not for De Beers, the world's greatest cartel, they would be. But such has been the power of De Beers that even a glut of diamonds, massive stockpiling, chronic cashflow problems and political uncertainty have been unable to loosen its stranglehold on the $60 billion world diamond market.
Cheap labour
Most of the diamonds traded internationally are mined by the African poor or bought on the cheap from the Russians. And three quarters of the world's gems are cut in poverty-stricken Surat in India, often by young children earning as little as four American cents per stone. Appalled by De Beers' business ethics, America outlawed the company, effectively preventing it from opening its own outlets in the
United States. Ironically, America remains by far De Beers' single biggest market and the company operates through American dealers unhindered.

Engagement Rings
It was the marketing magic of De Beers which persuaded Americans at the turn of the century to adopt the European custom of giving a diamond engagement ring as a token of marriage The same magic worked again in the 1950s when the Japanese in their desire to be Western became the world's second largest market for cut diamonds And when the Oppenheimer family who own De Beers found themselves with a mountain of unsold small diamonds on their hands, they dreamt up the idea of the eternity ring as a means of getting rid of them
Successful advertising
A perfect example of a near total monopoly, De Beers has always found ways to boost demand and cut surplus production When General Electric discovered a way to produce high-grade synthetic diamonds, De Beers still managed somehow to prevent GE undercutting their prices In fact the Oppenheimers have spent more than $160 million a year repeating their message that "diamonds are forever", probably the most successful advertising slogan of all time And even when profits are down and their share price takes a tumble, DE Beers makes sure that the legend
of the diamond lives on.
Massive stockpiling
Yet throughout its long and chequered history, what De Beers has feared most is the prospect of plunging prices if other diamond producers were ever to dump their surplus gems onto the world market After all, it was by threatening to do just that that the Oppenheimers were able to seize control of De Beers in the first place. So far the company has managed to soak up excess supply by buying up most of the diamonds in the world But this has led to a massive accumulation of stocks in South Africa with perhaps a further ten billion dollars worth in Russia alone How long De Beers can contain such a huge surplus is now open to question and perhaps even they will eventually fall victim to the relentless laws of supply and demand.

Results (English) 3:

钻石是永恒的

由一个在世界上最富有的公司发明，钻石永远是一个口号
不承担仔细检查。
常见和不可交易的钻石不是价值也不罕见
。虽然很贵，事实上是一种地球上最常见的矿物。在西方，切割钻石比汽车多。他们是一个几乎不可交易的商品。他们的转售价值显着低于其原始成本，现在他们可以很容易地在其所有的工业应用中取代。事实上，没有传统和浪漫，它总是给予他们的情感价值的钻石，他们将几乎一文不值。

价格虚高钻石的高价是一个胜利的商业影响力和销售戴比尔斯天才，南非的企业集团，在世界钻石供应80%的股份。通过严格控制钻石的开采和分配，戴比尔斯公司已设法保持价格虚高。通过转动钻石变成一个普遍的浪漫，它阻止了二手钻石涌入市场，迫使价格下降的象征。即使在百姓民不聊生也不情愿卖掉他们的钻石。戴比尔斯公司知道，如果他们做了与他们的一部分，市场将饱和过夜。
供过于求
钻石的世界持续供大于需求，所以钻石应该便宜。如果不是因为戴比尔斯公司，世界上最大的贩毒集团，他们将。但如已被戴比尔斯，甚至大量的钻石，大量的储备力量，长期的现金流问题，政治的不确定性已经不能放松对60000000000美元的世界钻石市场的垄断地位。

廉价劳动力大部分钻石国际贸易是由非洲穷人开采或从俄罗斯买的便宜。三季度世界宝石切割在苏拉特在印度贫困儿童，经常收入只有四美分的石头。震惊于戴比尔斯商业道德，美国禁止公司，有效地防止在美国开设自己的分店
。具有讽刺意味的是，美国至今仍然是最大的单一市场，戴比尔斯公司通过美国经销商顺畅。


订婚戒指这是戴比尔斯公司，说服美国人在世纪之交，采用欧洲的习俗，把订婚钻戒作为婚姻的象征同样神奇的年代时，他们的愿望是西日本成为世界第二大切割钻石市场，当奥本海默家族拥有戴比尔斯发现自己工作的一次营销魔力在他们的手上未售出的小钻石山，