"diamond standard..?"

[Che]

Paul Kanjorski mentions about "diamond standard" at about 7:30. Maybe i didnt hear correctly, but i never heard of diamond standard aside from gold/silver standard. Any inputs?

YouTube - 1/25/10 Ron Paul on CNBC's Squawk Box: Debate on Bernanke and the Fed

 

[Bruno]

I think he was going to make a joke there, but Ron stepped in before he was able to. My guess anyway, when I listened to it.

 

[rpfan2008]

'Diamonds are for ever' , right?

A mixed commodity bag seems to be a very practical solution, as RP said.

 

[ian_co]

hmm well Diamonds are not stable because its more of a monopolized commodity than Gold..

 

[Chester Copperpot]

yeah it sounded like he was trying to be sarcastic..to insinuate how silly a gold standard was.

 

[Matt Collins]

Diamonds are worthless. The only reason they have perceived value is because of a century of ingrained marketing strategy, and also because of the monopoly that DeBeers enjoys.

 

[noxagol]

Diamonds are worthless. The only reason they have perceived value is because of a century of ingrained marketing strategy, and also because of the monopoly that DeBeers enjoys.

Value is in the eye of the beholder. If people think diamonds are as valuable as they currently are, then they are as valuable as they currently are.

 

[klamath]

As Matt stated Debeers has a total monopoly on diamonds. They have a choke hold on the price of diamonds and a huge stockpile that if they released them on the market it would badly depress the market.

 

[ILUVRP]

Russia has lots of diamonds, i remember in the 60's or 70's Russia was going to sell a LOT of diamonds , Debeers told Russia if they did Debeers would dump so many diamonds on the world market the Russians diamonds would be worthless .

Diamonds are garbage.

Give me GOLD--PLATINUM--SILVER

 

[Mini-Me]

Unlike gold, diamonds can be manufactured. Sure, it's not as easy to make them as it is to make paper, but it still defeats the purpose of "sound money."

 

[brandon]

Unlike gold, diamonds can be manufactured. Sure, it's not as easy to make them as it is to make paper, but it still defeats the purpose of "sound money."

This.

And in addition, diamonds are not easily divisible, which is an essential property of good money.

 

[Number19]

Diamonds are worthless. The only reason they have perceived value is because of a century of ingrained marketing strategy, and also because of the monopoly that DeBeers enjoys.

Diamonds, and gem stones in general, have held economic and social status for at least 5,000 years. The negatives mentioned are only facts getting in the way of reality. Beauty always has an intrinsic value, it may be no more complicated than that.

 

[Matt Collins]

Beauty always has an intrinsic value, it may be no more complicated than that.

True but scarcity and supply/demand must obviously play a role in the value or worth of an object, right?

 

[Matt Collins]

Unlike gold, diamonds can be manufactured. Sure, it's not as easy to make them as it is to make paper

Here is a very good article on the subject:


[FONT=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The New Diamond Age
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Armed with inexpensive, mass-produced gems, two startups are launching an assault on the De Beers cartel.
Next up: the computing industry.[/FONT]



http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html




.

 

[Number19]

True but scarcity and supply/demand must obviously play a role in the value or worth of an object, right?

Naturally, but this is all shook out in the free market, where the value is ultimately set. The market will find ways to distinguish those gems of true worth from the fakes, frauds and imitations. Vanity plays part in the desire for a true gem rather than an imitation and wealth allows the elite to satisfy this lust. Gems should not be treated as "money" but rather more as a "collectible", which has value in the marketplace, whether this is the free market or the black market.

But I foresee no future where gem stones dug from the ground are "worthless".

 

[TinCanToNA]

Diamonds are worthless. The only reason they have perceived value is because of a century of ingrained marketing strategy, and also because of the monopoly that DeBeers enjoys.

There's a lot of truth to this from what I've read. Diamonds are not "worthless" though, that's just your rhetorical flourish (I hope). They certainly don't have the same qualities as gold, which make gold a great form of sound currency. Those were mentioned elsewhere in the thread.

 

[Icymudpuppy]

These days, diamonds are no more valuable than the graphite rod in your #2 pencil. It's just pure carbon in a certain molecular structure easily made or destroyed in a modern laboratory. Carbon is the fourth most common element on the earth's surface and atmosphere after hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

 

[EddieG]

Unlike gold, diamonds have widely varying quality. Things like the cut, clarity, and even color add to the desirability of a diamond and yet aren't detectable without a scope. This makes valuing them much harder.

Kanjorski was mocking the gold standard. These nitwits think that sound money is backward thinking, when the fact is that sound money and phony fiat money have existed side by side for centuries. Also, Paul isn't after a "gold standard," he's trying to eliminate legal tender laws so that people can choose whatever commodity money they want. He wouldn't care if nitwits like Paul Kanjorski wanted to use fiat money... just don't force the rest of us to use it.

 

[pahs1994]

Thanks for posting this. Sadly, Kanjorski is the congressman from the district i live in. I sent him tons of Email about Auditing the Fed. It was nice to see the only congressman i support schooling this guy.

Kanjorski barely held onto his seat in the 2008 elections by the way. He should be gone after this election if Barletta runs again. Not that it would be too much of an improvement..

 

[Krugerrand]

If not for the possibility to manufacture diamonds ... they would make a decent means of storing wealth. It would be far easier to transport $1 MIL in diamonds than in gold.