re: #235 Obdicut

our production costs went up for that line of products so the profit margin on it dropped

And if the profit margin drops several things happen

Less profit means less taxes paid
Less profit means less available capital to spend on raises, hiring, upgrade of equipment (which of course means that equipment manufacturer sells less equipmnet, which means they don’t need as many workers, or the current workers don;t get raises, or that company can’t afford to up grade THEIR equipment and will pay less taxes!)

but if we priced goods by adding up how much they cost us to make and then slapping an arbitrary number on top of that

It’s not a matter of “slapping on an arbitrary number on top of that”, but as a base point you HAVE to know what manufacuring a “WIDGET” will cost you per “WIDGET”, factoring in ALL costs, labor, material, EBITDA, all overhead (is the building you’re doing business out of rented or owned, do you have a mortgage, energy costs, advertising, yearly maintenenace on building and equipment) and (ta da) TAXES