Hello Ryan
In the diamond industry, DeBeers Diamonds owns about 90% of the
diamond mines in the world.
De Beers "controls" about 60 per cent of the world diamond trade, but
your point stands nonetheless.
They do this, and it is no secret. They give out a veeeery limited
number of contracts to diamond cutters and suppliers. Furthermore,
they restrict the number of diamonds and quality put onto the market
in order to control price. Of course the people who win a contract
with them want another one next year, so they pay well to get it,
then they charge well to keep it.
And, for a lo-ong time, national governments involved have kept in
step by making it illegal to own or trade any diamonds that didn't go
through their "official" channels. In South Africa, "IDB" - Illicit
Diamond Buying - lands you in jail.
"The laws were tough, but there was no social stigma to breaking
them. Honest tradesmen and other pillars of society would get caught
with uncut diamonds, go to jail, serve their terms and pick up their
lives again where they'd left off. Nobody thought they'd done
anything "bad", or even dishonest, only illegal. A mayor of a small
town in the Northern Cape got caught, went to jail, did his term, and
was elected mayor again."
http://journeytoforever.org/keith_pocket.html
"Put it in Your Pocket"
There's another side to diamonds that in Africa at any rate give them
much in common with oil: many of Africa's wars are financed by the
lucrative trade in "illegal" diamonds.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3230627.stm
BBC NEWS
31 October, 2003
'Blood diamonds' deal under fire
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3581799.stm
BBC NEWS
30 March, 2004
Conflict diamonds 'still on sale'
http://www.publici.org/dtaweb/icij_bow.asp?Section=Chapter&ChapNum=6
The Center for Public Integrity
Conflict Diamonds are Forever
Best wishes
Keith
It would be absolutely incomprehensible if the oil industry didn't do this.
<how do people swallow this bunk? by the same reasoning, oil should
have surpassed $75/bbl the very day we invaded iraq.
Good point.
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: <mailto:Biofuel@sustainablelists.org>Biofuel@sustainablelists.org
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 7:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] ASPO on the Economic near-Future
i've never heard this term of 'the bilderbergers' before,
but i don't find teh notion too farfetched. more likely to me that
their idea of safeguarding supply is simply to make it more
expensive, regardless of whether it provokes economic downturn or
depression. take the fact that oil prices spiked again simply
because of this tropical storm in the gulf right now; the rationale
being that it could disrupt supply.
how do people swallow this bunk? by the same reasoning, oil should
have surpassed $75/bbl the very day we invaded iraq.
as far as your last comment is concerned, isn't it interesting that
left wing parties and labor movements were far more widespread and
mainstream *prior to (and during)* the great depression than *after*
(this is especially true of the situation in the u.s.a.).?
-chris b.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Provost <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Biofuel@sustainablelists.org
Sent: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 17:52:06 -0700
Subject: [Biofuel] ASPO on the Economic near-Future
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>From the latest ASPO Newsletter:
<http://www.peakoil.net/>http://www.peakoil.net/
> Expect a severe downturn in the world's economy over
> the next two years as Bilderbergers try to safeguard
> the remaining oil supply by taking money out of people's
> hands. In a recession or, at worst, a depression, the
> population will be forced to dramatically cut down their
> spending habits, thus ensuring a longer supply of oil to
> the world's rich as they try to figure out what to do.
I know, your eyes glaze over when you hear anything about
the Bilderbergers :-) Interesting idea, tho. My Dad was
poor enough in the Great Depression that hey traded with
their Polish neighbors for sauerkraut and potatoes. OTOH,
my Mom was sort of aristocracy, and the same event hardly
even broke their stride! Funny how economic downturn may
even be in the best interest of the world's richest....
-K
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