Diamonds are a girl’s (… or at least a marketers) best friend

The next time you look at a diamond, consider this. Nearly every American marriage begins with a diamond because a bunch of rich white men in the 1940s convinced everyone that its size determines your self worth. They created this convention – that unless a man purchases an intrinsically useless diamond, his life is a failure – while sitting in a room, racking their brains on how to sell diamonds that no one wanted. 

via Diamonds Are Bullshit.

Free market indeed

An area of 177 ha was acquired for POSCO (India) Limited in Jagatsinghpur district with a land acquisition cost of Rs 11.85 crore. The approximate present value of the said land parcel is Rs 64.22 crore.

Anybody who promotes free market type interventions India must keep in mind that the so-called economically liberal, capitalist actors operate on a market which is anything but free. The idea of a free market anywhere is highly suspicious, but in India even more so.

The corporates for whom the promoters of the “free market” are working to create access for often rely on cosy (often corrupt) deals with government to make their business projections work.

Case in point – land acquisition at bargain prices as above.