[2119] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Allocation of IP Addresses
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Browning)
Fri Mar 15 16:16:31 1996
From: Jim Browning <jfbb@atmnet.net>
To: "'Perry E. Metzger'" <perry@piermont.com>
Cc: "'NANOG List'" <nanog@merit.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 13:02:02 -0800
>From: Perry E. Metzger[SMTP:perry@piermont.com]
>
>Jim Browning writes:
>> DeBeers has controlled (or at least significantly influenced) the price
of
>> diamonds for decades, ensuring that they appreciate in value by
controlling
>> supply, and by buying diamonds on the wholesale market to keep the price
up
>> (similar to what countries do to protect their currencies). They could
>> flood the market at any time, driving the price down dramatically. Of
>> course this isn't in their best interest, so they won't do it. However
>> Russia might, as they have stockpiled large quantities of diamonds, and
may
>> not have the same goal as DeBeers...
>
>So in what way is this a demonstration of a monopoly able to
>arbitrarily raise prices? What you've shown is that someone might be
>able to arbitrarily drop prices...
The price has been artificially raised through the years by controlling
supply, and it is only a government (the former USSR) which has (to the
best of my knowledge) threatened DeBeers control.
--
Jim Browning
