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FREE_MARKET_EFFICIENCY

                                             December 13, 2007

A rant from "The Skylark of
Space" by E.E. "doc" Smith,
(1928):

    "You know yourself," he rushed on hotly, "that the
    only reason platinum is used at all for jewelry is
    that it is expensive. It isn't nearly so handsome
    as either gold or silver, and if it wasn't the most
    costly common metal we have, the jewelry-wearing
    crowd wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot
    pole. Useless as an ornament, it is the one
    absolutely indispensable laboratory metal, and
    literally hundreds of laboratories that need it
    can't have it because over half the world's supply
    is tied up in jeweler's windows and in useless
    baubles. Then, too, it is the best thing known for
    contact points in electrical machinery. When the
    Government and all the scientific societies were
    abjectly begging the jewelers to let loose a little
    of it they refused--they were selling it to
    profiteering spendthrifts at a hundred and fifty
    dollars an ounce.  The condition isn't much better
    right now; it's a vicious circle. As long as the
    price stays high it will be used for jewelry, and
    as long as it is used for jewelry the price will
    stay high, and scientists will have to fight the
    jewelers for what little they get."



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