Jewelry Stolen & An Economics Principle
A few days ago, the jewelry in an armored truck got stolen in Los Angeles, California. The trucking company says that according to the value the customers gave them, the load was worth less than 10 million dollars.
Brinks, the trucking company, said it would only pay 10 million, as was agreed on the contract. The gems were heading to the International Gem and Jewelry Show in Pasadena, California. It is still unclear exactly how much the load was worth, though according to the victims, the jewelry could be worth up to 150 million dollars, and some of the vendors built up their inventory over 40 years. The trade show was going to take place from July 15th to July 17th. Anyways, why do robbers so commonly target these gems?
To understand why things like jewelry are so valuable but things like printing paper aren’t as much, we need to look at an economic principle, supply, and demand. To understand why gems are much more valuable than your average paper, let’s look at where how they get made. Paper gets made from trees, and even though environmentalists say trees are getting scarcer, there is still some time before we run out of them. After the trees get cut down, they are cut and cut and then mashed into pulp. After pulp gets treated in a paper factory, it gets laid on molds, and when it drys, you have a piece of paper. Right now, many people are advocating recycling these used pieces of paper, so there is a very steady amount made.
That may be the case with paper. However, gems are mined and formed over a much longer time than it takes for trees to grow. Scientists are trying to create lab-made gems from the same method it gets formed in nature, but it’s just not the same. Since there is a limited quantity of them, but many still like them, jewelry is quite expensive. Quantity gets outnumbered by the people who want them, their demand. And that is the economic principle of supply and demand. In truth, if you could somehow make printing paper scarcer than jewelry, then I’m glad to say that you would be rich in no time selling pieces of paper.
However, even though gems and diamonds are scarce, their current value is stabler than gold. Gold prices are subject to both upward and downward fluctuations, and those fluctuations usually mean those in the economy. Things like the value change of the American dollar could affect the value of gold. But diamonds are relatively stable and are not impacted that much. So if you want to invest, diamonds are better than gold.
Always be extra careful with your possessions, even when you think they are safe. Because even when the jewelry is in an armored truck, it still may get stolen. Sorry to those who lost theirs. That’s the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. Thank you for reading, and tune in next time for more.