I would think that in this economy, the proliferation of everyday items festooned with diamonds would grind to a halt. But I’m wrong, and here are 10 pieces of evidence that prove it.

1. Earbuds. Not only are there 59 diamonds on each bud, they’re made out of 18-carat gold. And they’re only $5,200!

2. iPod. Duh. If you’re going to have the blinged-out earbuds, you’d better have the complementing iPod. For $12,495, you get a white-gold, 4G Nano with 480 diamonds.

3. Yalos LCD TV. It has a white-gold panel and a smattering of diamonds throughout the screen’s edge. The “smattering” adds up to 20 carats. It’s a bargain at $127,000.

4. Hot Wheels car. Again with the white gold. Hot Wheels premiered this $140,000 toy last February. It has more than 2,700 blue diamonds, which are not quite 23 carats in total. The tail lights are made out of rubies, no less.

5. Visa Card. It’s not exactly “encrusted,” but still seems like an unnecessary use of a diamond. The card, containing one .02 carat diamond, is called the Visa Infinite and is issued by the Eurasian Bank in Kazakhstan to clients who make $300,000 or more annually. Considering that ¼ of the population in Kazakhstan lives in poverty, these things are probably few and far between.

6. iPhone. Austrian jeweler Peter Aloisson recently made the priciest iPhone known to man: it’s solid 18-carat yellow gold, white gold and rose gold, has 138 brilliant cut diamonds and one 6.6 rare diamond that serves as the home button. It’ll only set you back $2,517,345.

7. Toothpick sleeve. It’s soooo embarrassing when you’re at a party and get something in your teeth and have to pick it out with a regular old wooden toothpick. How low-brow can you get? Luckily, you can disguise your crappy pick with a diamond-and-gold toothpick sleeve that will look like a million bucks while you pick spinach out of your gap. Or at least 800 bucks – that’s what they start at.

8. Memory Stick. I totally need this for all of the writing I do. I bounce around to several different computers, you know, and I totally make enough money blogging to buy a memory stick encrusted with 600 brilliant-cut diamonds. Yeeeaaahhh. Bonus: you can get it in white or yellow gold!

9. The ubiquitous Victoria’s Secret bra. The 2008 version included 3,575 black diamonds and 34 rubies, with two huge black diamond drops. The gems came in at more than 1500 carats and will cost one lucky person just $5 million.

10. Pacifier. Because your baby really cares what it drools all over. But if you care what your baby drools all over, you can shell out $17,000 for this white gold binky encrusted with 278 white diamonds – a total of three carats. Or you could start saving for college. But you know, whatever. And if a bejeweled pacifier just isn’t luxurious enough, click the link – there are plenty of other expensive sparkly things you can buy your child.

While they might not be diamond-encrusted, we’re giving away five $10,000 scholarships. All you have to do is tell us, in 750 words or less, why you should win. But you have to tell us by January 31st. We look forward to reading your entries!