Hurrah for two car decadence!

[Pantelis Giamarellos]

Same applies for gold, bone china (even though it is not a mineral it also
attracks high prices for something that costs peanuts to make) and a lot of
other goods/products.

But then again diamonds and gold have very important industrial, medicinal
uses so there would still be demand for them.

Their price has a lot to do with the increased cost of their production.
This was also the reason why aluminium was once considered the MOST
expensive metal in the world. It required tremendous amounts of soil and
energy for just tiny amounts of pure aluminium to be produced. This is why
the top of the flag pole of the Napoleonian times French flags was made in
aluminium (at least for the very important flag poles like Emperon's guards
regiment etc)

But apart from the non always true production cost factor that you are
absolutely correct on your remark.

One more example?  Fuel, tobacco and alcohol prices. Cheap as dirty to
produce but sold as expensive as gold because of another "civilized world"
invention. Taxation.  (blame the UK for that, at least in its present day
method of  implementation)

Take care
Pantelis

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Riebs / AudiV8" <AudiV8 at 1stchoicegranite.com>
To: "Pantelis Giamarellos" <pantg at otenet.gr>; <quattro at audifans.com>; "Mike
Arman" <armanmik at earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 8:40 PM
Subject: Re: Hurrah for two car decadence!


> > As for those who say that wealth and materials were "stolen" from
> > undeveloped countries the only reply is that the wealth and material was
> > there but those who had it did not wish to work or simply did not have
the
> > brains (putting it bluntly) to take advantage of it.
>
> Um, like what - Diamonds from South Africa and Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe)?
> Actually, it's us "civilized" folks that have no brains! Here is a
completely useless and un-valuable mineral, which nobody in the
local-to-the-mineral area had any interest in. Some smart business people
(who were Dutch...!!) owned some land upon which this mineral was found.
Then they told the rest of the world that it was highly valuable and sought
after - AND WE ALL FELL FOR IT!!!
> How stupid of us!
>
> Michael L. Riebs
> Grand Rapids, Michigan
>
> '90 V8Q
> '98 A6QA
>
> www.omegaconceptsltd.com
> www.1stchoicegranite.com
>
>
>