Even the rare earths (which, ironically, are relatively plentiful in the earth's crust [1], enjoy the same market-response behavior. As soon as China tried to

Even the rare earths (which, ironically, are relatively plentiful in the earth's crust [1], enjoy the same market-response behavior. As soon as China tried to flex a bit of muscle in it's monopoly position, a bunch of other suppliers jumped into the market (and, industrial users of rare-earths found alternative resources for their gadgets) http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/12/18/chinese-rare-earth-metals-surprise-free-markets-actually-work/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/12/18/chinese-r... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element