In an article published on Priceonomics.com by Rohin Dhar, He writes:
"We like diamonds because Gerold M. Lauck told us to. Until the mid 20th century, diamond engagement rings were a small and dying industry in America. Nor had the concept really taken hold in Europe. Moreover, with Europe on the verge of war, it didn’t seem like a promising place to invest.
Not surprisingly, the American market for diamond engagement rings began to shrink during the Great Depression. Sales volume declined and the buyers that remained purchased increasingly smaller stones. But the US market for engagement rings was still 75% of De Beers’ sales. If De Beers was going to grow, it had to reverse the trend.
And so, in 1938, De Beers turned to Madison Avenue for help. They hired Gerold Lauck and the N. W. Ayer advertising agency, who commissioned a study with some astute observations. Men were the key to the market:
Since “young men buy over 90% of all engagement rings” it would be crucial to inculcate in them the idea that diamonds were a gift of love: the larger and finer the diamond, the greater the expression of love. Similarly, young women had to be encouraged to view diamonds as an integral part of any romantic courtship.
However, there was a dilemma. Many smart and prosperous women didn’t want diamond engagement rings. They wanted to be different.
The millions of brides and brides-to-be are subjected to at least two important pressures that work against the diamond engagement ring. Among the more prosperous, there is the sophisticated urge to be different as a means of being smart…. the lower-income groups would like to show more for the money than they can find in the diamond they can afford…
Lauck needed to sell a product that people either did not want or could not afford. His solution would haunt men for generations. He advised that De Beers market diamonds as a status symbol:
“The substantial diamond gift can be made a more widely sought symbol of personal and family success — an expression of socio-economic achievement.”
“Promote the diamond as one material object which can reflect, in a very personal way, a man’s … success in life.”
thats the reality of "Engagement Rings" .. before buying an expensive Diamond Ring .... better think gain!
generalization... and "one sided". some are like that, and some not. the same principle applies to agnostic, other credos, atheist, etc, as "humans" find excuses, some are just different.
Why do people still believe in God? because we can think and do whatever we want. some people believes in God, others dont. tolerance only, accept that humans have the right to choose, even if it does not make sense to us.
Marcus Aurelius said it better: "Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid."
depends. crazy people comes in all format. and stereotypes.
I prefer normal extrovert -the real ones where conversation flows naturally and its fun; the brash ones - no way. too introverted - sit in silence, and contemplate the ceiling?.. hum.. nope.
interesting. conspirator or not lets see some facts. as Congressmen, Dennis Kucinich said "The Federal Reserve is no more federal than the Federal Express". true or false ?
the skeptic do agree to the Fed being privately owned, but also say t that policy is partially "governed by the Federally-appointed Board of Governors" as a reason that it operates in the interest of the people.
true: the actual "policy setting committee is the Federal Open Market Committee, which consists of the 7 members of the Board of Governors and 5 Federal Reserve Bank presidents" (The other 7 Federal Reserve presidents attend meetings and participate in discussions but do not vote).
True: the President is required by law, as per section 10 of the Federal Reserve Charter, to "have due regard to a fair representation of the financial, agricultural, industrial, and commercial interests... of the country" in his Governor appointments. (these are appointed officials, not elected officials. not one person involved in monetary policy is elected by the people).
True: oce appointed, Governors are entirely independent and cannot be removed due to their policies. the FMOC meets 8 times a year and its minutes are secret. their decision is only meant to "provide guidance to the Manager in the conduct of day-to-day open market operations", where 'manager' refers to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to federalreserve.gov. (US)
beyond these 8 meetings a year which set guidelines, the 12 Federal Reserve banks operate independently and are owned privately. Specifically, they are owned by other banks, who are considered 'member banks', which amount to 40% of the banks in the US. same as other countries..
well, besides these facts, i have no idea if they are going after "world dominance". ... but you have a point with the borg idea.
debt does matter, and it is impossible to go on for long time. creating money makes money, but not value. also it means that "our gov" is not using the resources in the best way.
in a macro sense, public debt is just a "transfer of purchasing power from individuals to the government" - individuals consume less, the government consumes more. government debt is different economically from individual debt. if debt and money are created without increasing the amount of goods and services we get inflation - which is a tax on all of those who own cash and debt. total world economy is always "balanced" (unless there are alien banks that we don't know).
Bogart_1960 Forum Posts (10,012)
i agree with you. pure scam.
Engagement Rings . do you want one?
tiara?.. hum... that movie was one of the worst movies ever made...