Word: honestus
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...Honestus: You've got plenty of company, Confusa...
...Honestus: It wouldn't. The idea was not to help farmers, but to help the Government...
CONFUSA: Then how could the steel companies justify price increases? HONESTUS: The industry's essential argument was that in the past few years steel profits have shrunk to the point where steel companies (after paying corporation taxes to the Federal Government and dividends to stockholders) did not have enough "retained earnings" left over to meet their needs for investment in modernization of plants and equipment. Total steel-industry profits, which ran to about $1.1 billion a year in the mid-igsos, declined to about $800 million a year over the past four years...
CONFUSA: Why have steel profits been going down if labor costs per ton of steel remained fairly stable? HONESTUS: The most important factor seems to be that over the past four years steel has been operating at about 65% of capacity, as against 90% in 1955-56. Unused capacity cuts profit margins because it adds to overhead costs and maintenance costs per ton of steel produced...
CONFUSA: Didn't the President say last week that corporation profits are running at record high levels? HONESTUS : Yes, he did, but he was not talking specifically about steel profits at that point. And it was misleading to say "the highest profits in the history of this country." Quantity of profits has to be measured against quantity of invested capital. By that standard, profits have a long way to go. Last year total profits in manufacturing industries came to 8.7% of invested capital, as against an average of better than 12% a year during the period...