5 ms·

A diamond that is actually rare and worth something? Say it ain't so.

by ct0 7y ago

bluedevil2k 7y ago
A diamond is worth what people are willing to pay for it. Just cause you don’t think they should be expensive doesn’t mean other people agree with you.
- Retric 7y ago
  A diamond is worth what someone is willing to pay minus the cost of selling it to them. That’s why used Diamonds have such a dramatic loss in value.
  - bluedevil2k 7y ago
    This is not true at all. The value of a new diamond is marketing. No one’s advertising for used diamonds. It’s not exclusive to the diamond industry either - the reason Coke is more expensive than generic is because of marketing.
    - lostlogin 7y ago
      But used coke is also worthless.
      - pacaro 7y ago
        It might not be worth the effort but... https://sciencing.com/make-phosphorus-4524329.html https://sciencing.com/make-phosphorus-4524329.html
        lostlogin 7y ago
        This is excellent, thanks.
    - Retric 7y ago
      You’re confusing the wholesale price with the retail price. It’s not that used diamonds are inherently worth less, it’s the overhead of running a shop to sell them being a real cost. Walk by a jewelry store and you see both expensive inventory and people standing around waiting to sell to somebody, that’s a huge expense. PS: Not to be confused with the third category of “wholesale” diamonds that’s simply retail with lower overhead.
  - dobleboble 7y ago
    "Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?" https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-yo...
- adrianmonk 7y ago
  Maybe they are talking about what it's worth to them. Just because other people don't agree with them doesn't mean they're wrong to have their own subjective idea of what something is worth. There are good reasons to talk about the value of something in both a subjective and an objective way. The amount of money something is going for generally in the market is an important number for some purposes, and the amount of money you'd personally pay is also an important number for other purposes.
- lotyrin 7y ago
  Just because any proportion of people think something or are willing to do something doesn't validate, justify, or excuse that thing.
  - erulabs 7y ago
    If you respect other peoples decision making, then a large proportion of people thinking a thing absolutely does validate an idea. Justify and excuse maybe not, but validate absolutely. Diamonds may be artificially priced, sure, but people willingly pay the price daily. You are of course free to judge, but your judgement of value is not more or less valid than the judgements of others. Valuation isn't objective, and it isn't a logic question that can be reduced. Value is subjective, and therefore the value anyone honestly pays for any object is _always valid_.
    - lotyrin 7y ago
      > respect other peoples decision making That is absolutely not my default position. Respect of that sort requires earning and it's pretty rare anyone manages to do so. > your judgement of value is not more or less valid than the judgements of others Have you ever met humans? Never driven through a "Cash for Gold, Guns and Pawn" neighborhood? I am very confident that there is such a concept as value judgement systems being more or less useful to the folks that employ them. > Valuation isn't subjective and and therefore the value anyone honestly pays for any object is _always valid_. Im not sure what mistake(s) you are making in your life that you seek to justify through this belief system you've outlined here, but the fact that you do feel justified indicates to me that is of the flavor (majority-identity affluence) of owning a suit the price of which could feed a word-median-income family for a year or a luxury sedan for which you paid more than some folks' entire lifetime earning potential, which sure, man, you can do whatever you want because you have been blessed with the privilege and I don't really feel like arguing about that. The fact of the matter (and you can use this to judge me however you feel like and dismiss the entire concept of having any responsibility for what you choose to value or accepting the consequence of other people being free to judge you for it) is that my mother doesn't cook, eat healthy meals, or have food in her fridge because she "has no money" because, while she makes quite a lot of money in global economy terms (and well above average even for her socioeconomic background in the US) she has a value system where she will value booze or drugs or fast food more than having cost effective and nutritious meal options or any amount of money sitting in any kind of liquid form. She doesn't go to the doctor when she should because despite having a really good government employee health benefits, she doesn't have the cash on hand to cover the (relative to her income) trivial copay amounts and because she values "not having to know how bad it is or do anything about it" more than "knowing what I need to do in order to be healthy". I will get to watch her suffer and die as a consequence of her value systems, powerless to help her without jeopardizing my own quality of life because of the ramifications of this assertion of yours here being false.
- draw_down 7y ago
  Come on

A diamond that is actually rare and worth something? Say it ain't so.

by ct0 7y ago

A diamond that is actually rare and worth something? Say it ain't so.

A diamond is worth what people are willing to pay for it. Just cause you don’t think they should be expensive doesn’t mean other people agree with you.

Retric 7y ago
A diamond is worth what someone is willing to pay minus the cost of selling it to them. That’s why used Diamonds have such a dramatic loss in value.
- bluedevil2k 7y ago
  This is not true at all. The value of a new diamond is marketing. No one’s advertising for used diamonds. It’s not exclusive to the diamond industry either - the reason Coke is more expensive than generic is because of marketing.
  - lostlogin 7y ago
    But used coke is also worthless.
    - pacaro 7y ago
      It might not be worth the effort but... https://sciencing.com/make-phosphorus-4524329.html https://sciencing.com/make-phosphorus-4524329.html
      - lostlogin 7y ago
        This is excellent, thanks.
  - Retric 7y ago
    You’re confusing the wholesale price with the retail price. It’s not that used diamonds are inherently worth less, it’s the overhead of running a shop to sell them being a real cost. Walk by a jewelry store and you see both expensive inventory and people standing around waiting to sell to somebody, that’s a huge expense. PS: Not to be confused with the third category of “wholesale” diamonds that’s simply retail with lower overhead.
- dobleboble 7y ago
  "Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?" https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-yo...
adrianmonk 7y ago
Maybe they are talking about what it's worth to them. Just because other people don't agree with them doesn't mean they're wrong to have their own subjective idea of what something is worth. There are good reasons to talk about the value of something in both a subjective and an objective way. The amount of money something is going for generally in the market is an important number for some purposes, and the amount of money you'd personally pay is also an important number for other purposes.
lotyrin 7y ago
Just because any proportion of people think something or are willing to do something doesn't validate, justify, or excuse that thing.
- erulabs 7y ago
  If you respect other peoples decision making, then a large proportion of people thinking a thing absolutely does validate an idea. Justify and excuse maybe not, but validate absolutely. Diamonds may be artificially priced, sure, but people willingly pay the price daily. You are of course free to judge, but your judgement of value is not more or less valid than the judgements of others. Valuation isn't objective, and it isn't a logic question that can be reduced. Value is subjective, and therefore the value anyone honestly pays for any object is _always valid_.
  - lotyrin 7y ago
    > respect other peoples decision making That is absolutely not my default position. Respect of that sort requires earning and it's pretty rare anyone manages to do so. > your judgement of value is not more or less valid than the judgements of others Have you ever met humans? Never driven through a "Cash for Gold, Guns and Pawn" neighborhood? I am very confident that there is such a concept as value judgement systems being more or less useful to the folks that employ them. > Valuation isn't subjective and and therefore the value anyone honestly pays for any object is _always valid_. Im not sure what mistake(s) you are making in your life that you seek to justify through this belief system you've outlined here, but the fact that you do feel justified indicates to me that is of the flavor (majority-identity affluence) of owning a suit the price of which could feed a word-median-income family for a year or a luxury sedan for which you paid more than some folks' entire lifetime earning potential, which sure, man, you can do whatever you want because you have been blessed with the privilege and I don't really feel like arguing about that. The fact of the matter (and you can use this to judge me however you feel like and dismiss the entire concept of having any responsibility for what you choose to value or accepting the consequence of other people being free to judge you for it) is that my mother doesn't cook, eat healthy meals, or have food in her fridge because she "has no money" because, while she makes quite a lot of money in global economy terms (and well above average even for her socioeconomic background in the US) she has a value system where she will value booze or drugs or fast food more than having cost effective and nutritious meal options or any amount of money sitting in any kind of liquid form. She doesn't go to the doctor when she should because despite having a really good government employee health benefits, she doesn't have the cash on hand to cover the (relative to her income) trivial copay amounts and because she values "not having to know how bad it is or do anything about it" more than "knowing what I need to do in order to be healthy". I will get to watch her suffer and die as a consequence of her value systems, powerless to help her without jeopardizing my own quality of life because of the ramifications of this assertion of yours here being false.
draw_down 7y ago
Come on