The US public has bought into a great hypnotic bamboozle - DIAMONDS. People of USA purchase 65% of the worlds diamond production and the cabal at DEBEERS laughs... loudly. Debeers, the diamond cartel based in S. Africa, has created a numbing illusion about diamonds. In reality those hardened pieces of coal are cheap to produce, virtual slave labor digs them up, and they should have an accompanying low price except Debeers has put a headlock on production and works at keeping prices artificially high. 
    A PBS Frontline special delved into the Debeers Diamond cartel. Debeers paid Hollywood big shekels to have diamonds draped near Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylorís cleavage. Debeers also had a few sales problems in the early days. Ad teams came up with a clincher "Diamonds are heirlooms" Translation, hey, you can't put grannies hardened coal on your paw. It's an heirloom. You need to bury it or keep it in a vault. And you BUY another one. (It keeps old diamonds off the market and prices go up) 
    The current ETHICAL noise about "Blood Diamonds" or Conflict Diamonds coming from The Congo and Sierra Leon is really a campaign guided by Debeers to cut into cheap African competitors. There can be no doubt that unparalleled horrors have taken place in these African nations and that diamonds have paid for many of the vicious mob militias. The practice of cutting off limbs is common place. But this should not be cover for Debeers to ground out competition. My wife only whines for pearls.