"I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better."
Georg C. Lichtenberg
The atrocities of conflict diamond fueled civil wars in Africa have played out in mass media, but the on-going suffering has quietly faded into the background. Recent reports indicate that communities continue to suffer under so-called “legal mining” projects in countries that are members of the Kimberly Process. Communities often lose access to farmland and other natural resources and victims can be subject to random search and seizure by public or private security officials, and even lose their homes and land.
While the plight of the consumer cannot be compared to the suffering in Africa, the price they pay is measurable. Through decades of advertising a societal acceptance of exorbitant prices established by an unfair monopoly, consumers are pressured into financing a large amount of debt by making investments in a product that does not even have a fair market resale value.
http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap20.htm
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