No, no, they are just earning less.

And the absurd thing is that we probably should use natural diamonds for jewelry, as it is a waste to synthesize such a common rock. If they weren't hoarded and aggressively marketed as something you have to have, they could just be a neat rock some people are into, there wouldn't be child slaves dying to dig them out of the ground.

If anyone wants a really deep dive into the diamond industry, a recent episode of Search Engine (podcast by PJ Vogt, for anyone familiar with Reply All) is all about this: https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/why-are-we-still-buying-diamonds

It’s a fantastic episode.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195430621450

Do I trust ebay? Not really. Is this a fair sized diamond, cut, for $10? It claims to be.

edit: my bad, synthetic diamonds are also known as moissanite and aren't actually diamonds. Here's a link to two lab grown diamonds, cut, for like $30

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126018751890

I bought my wife a 'fake ' diamond ring for the engagement ring.

She couldn't tell her snooty friends that though, so she went and bought herself a very expensive ring with real diamonds.

She had the ring I bought her melted into my wedding band. I hate jewellery though so had no intention of wearing it. I agreed to wear it for a week after we got married. I've never worn it again. I haven't even seen it since that first week. Over a decade. I wonder if it's just lost, or she has it somewhere still.

I don't care enough to ask.