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FROM JOHN IN OREGON
Woody Allen once quipped 'If my films don't show a profit, I know I'm doing something right.' For most other people, in most other circumstances, profit is a mark of success, and in most countries corporate profits are currently booming.

Last year, America's after-tax profits rose to their highest as a proportion of GDP for 75 years; the shares of profit in the euro area and Japan are also close to their highest for at least 25 years." ()

Where do the profits come from? Consumers; so in effect we are being over-charged and the money merely goes to the corporate share-holders or the C.E.O.'s. Why shouldn't their profits be regulated in a way that when they earn over a certain percentage of "fair profits" the money goes to social programs where the company is based and does business? And what is a fair profit?

Some companies follow a rule of thumb, developed by experience, that aims for a return on investment equivalent to twice the cost of borrowing money. Say the interest rates on corporate borrowing averages about 5% this would make an adequate return of about 10%.

If we are responsible for corporate profits then they need to curb their greed and the percentage of over-profits should go back into the communities.

Let them help pay for medical care for the uninsured here in the U.S. Let them help to clean up our
cities, let them be responsible citizens and put their money to community use.

Huge profits reflect that the corporations not only over charge we consumers but they underpay most of their employees, in effect greed is their motivation for profit.

John McWilliams
Portland, Oregon US