>>>>>Just for the record, I'm not saying that the pharmacos shouldn't make a profit, I'm just saying they shouldn't make an obscene profit.
>>>>
>>>>Oddly enough, I agree with you :P
>>>
>>>Oddly enough I disagree with both of you. Some things are worth the super obscen profits. Example. Say a researcher works on finding a cure for cancer, 20 year, or maybe 2 months. She finds the cure; validates it with 100% certainty. Then she says; unless I get 10 billion dollars I won't share my findings with the world. Of course, being that messiah won't apply water boarding, what do you do? I would give her 10 billion and then take her to dinner <g>.
>>
>>According to the definition of the word "obscene", no-one wants any company to make "obscene" profits. The only thing to discuss is what different people consider obscene :)
>
>If it helps, my definition is a selling price of more than 10 times what it (honest total of all) costs you to make it. So, to keep the numbers simple, if it costs you 10$ to make it - and you're selling it for 100$ - that's obscene.
>
>If you're cutting jobs left and right, yet still showing a substantial profit (that would more than pay for the jobs you just cut) - that's obscene.

Simple rules of thumb do not always apply in economics or business. They just don't.

I agree with you about profitable companies chopping heads, though.