Free Republic

Cost based pricing is relatively simple; you figure out your cost of goods, set a desired margin for each unit, add that margin onto your costs and you have your price. Cost based pricing doesn’t require the detailed level of analysis and value measurement necessary to employ a value-based pricing strategy. Because it’s simple, many companies fall into a trap of cost-based pricing. But as far as smart pricing goes, cost-based pricing strategies are anything but. So if it’s simple, why does it suck? Here are three reasons why:

Does the government reimburse your business when they lose money? Did the government make your business a protected monopoly? Sorry, that's how 'capitalism' works, ol' son.   For some time now I've been attempting to convey the reality that Corporate America, or otherwise casually referred to as 'Big Business', broadly speaking - is not practicing what many of us who consider ourselves conservatives would classify as legitimate capitalism. Corporatism, Corporatocracy, Corruption, Rent Seeking?, yes. Classic capitalism? - no. The obstacle in exposing it is that there is a very vocal sub-strata of so-called 'conservative' personalities – mostly radio hosts,...

Just a few months after Missouri’s Governor Jay Nixon vetoed a small but beneficial income tax cut, totaling $700 million over 10 years (barely larger than the one-year value of recent cuts in North Carolina), the Governor convened a special session to provide tax carve-outs for aircraft manufacturer, Boeing. That special session resulted in $1.7 billion in tax incentives to be paid out over 23 years, albeit with some job creation performance targets Boeing is required to hit in order to receive said tax benefits. The juxtaposition of these events provides an awkward contradiction. First, the suggestion that Boeing needs...

Love him or hate him, there is no debate about the fact that Rush Limbaugh is a genius. Last week he said the following: ”Have you ever noticed how under capitalism the rich become powerful, and under socialism the powerful become rich? It's amazing when you look at it that way. Under capitalism, the rich become powerful. Under socialism, the powerful get rich. They exploit others. They get rich by taking from others, by using their power. In capitalism, the rich become powerful. It's a minor little distinction. It's one of those little pithy bullet points that is just shy...

The Profound Rush Limbaugh: ”Have you ever noticed how under capitalism the rich become powerful, and under socialism the powerful become rich? Love him or hate him, there is no debate about the fact that Rush Limbaugh is a genius. Last week he said the following: ”Have you ever noticed how under capitalism the rich become powerful, and under socialism the powerful become rich? It’s amazing when you look at it that way. Under capitalism, the rich become powerful. Under socialism, the powerful get rich. They exploit others. They get rich by taking from others, by using their power. In...

In 2005 I was invited to Rome by the BBC to provide commentary for the events surrounding the death of Pope John Paul II and the subsequent conclave that would elect Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI. On the day the cardinals entered the conclave, I was on camera with the veteran BBC correspondent Brian Hanrahan (who died in 2010) and who seemed incredulous that the College of Cardinals might elect Ratzinger who had just given a memorable homily to the cardinals in which he decried the “dictatorship of relativism.” Could so narrow-minded a man, I was in effect asked, become...

You will not see or hear a word about this in the American media. It doesn’t fit their narrative for the way things should be so it will be ignored. The American Enterprise Institute has reported on a startling piece of good news. What the AEI is trumpeting is that the rate of $1.00 a day or less poverty in the world has fallen by 80% since 1970. This has to be causing Lyndon Johnson to roll over in his grave so fast his big rabbit ears are flapping wildly in his coffin. Those who remember Ole Long Ears remember...

Good economic policy accords with human nature. This is why governments and societies which respect capitalism succeed, and those which see capitalism as bad, fail. Rational self-interest (not greed, which is excessive self-interest) is part of human nature, and it is normal and healthy. Altruism is healthy, too, and on a higher plane, spiritually, than normal self-interest, but you can’t help another person unless you first have something to help them with–have enough of your own primary needs sufficiently met, in order to be able to donate or exchange any kind of goods (material or intangible) at all; to be...

President Obama’s Kansas speech is a remarkable document. In calling for more government controls, more taxation, more collectivism, he has two paragraphs that give the show away. Take a look at them.

On progressive news sites, Pope Francis is all the rage. Not only has he taken on the bishops, now he is taking on the ruling elites of the world. In his first major statement to the world, his “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel), the Pope addresses issues of trickle-down economics, runaway inequality, and the idolatry of money. His statements pull no punches. He says that for the rich not to share their wealth with the poor is nothing less than theft. The entire document is devoted to an effort to reverse the horrors brought on the world by...

Apples and Oranges, I'll give you that. But what I won't give you is dissent about overarching government solutions versus the private sector. ObamaCare is the socialist idea of government healthcare versus private sector answers. And by that I mean a truly unfettered private sector. Not the faux 'capitalism' practiced and protected today by an unbelievable goat cluster assembly of Rules, Regulations and Law seemingly in place to prevent capitalist competition. Competition, the engine, frame, suspension, bolts and bearings of Capitalism. This Christmas season UPS and Federal Express are enduring some bad press for missed or late deliveries. Quite the...

Are you for or against capitalism? Doesn't that depend on how you define it? If any reader of this publication believed capitalism were an evil, greedy, law-breaking corruption of society, similar to abuses in Pope Francis's native Argentina, he would be against it. Conservative do not tolerate crony capitalism (that is, government intervention in business). Most voters -- who cancel out your vote -- have very different ideas than you do. Buried assumptions and widely-varying definitions are being exposed by a recent debate over Christianity, socialism, and capitalism. Controversy sparked by Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation and Rush Limbaugh's criticism has...

<p>You are hereby notified that there is an official embargo on your comments in the email and hate mail columns effective with this notice. You recent offerings have been so obtuse, so off-topic, so unintelligible that even Jay Carney, White House Press Jester could only shrug when I asked him to translate.</p>

Tonight’s TopClip shows a side of ‘Duck Commander’ Phil Robertson that many don’t know: when he was teammates with future NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw…

With it now declared to be an act of racism to dare refer to the federal government’s dramatically increased and disastrous role in our healthcare as “Obamacare” — even though President Barack Obama, himself, once did so proudly, before its onerous provisions were triggered and began to explode in the faces of the American people — let’s just note that the, ahem, Affordable Care Act is . . . not. So, unsurprisingly, President Obama desperately moves on to greener pastures: Class envy and warfare. Income inequality. As if anyone in their right mind would choose to live in a society...

In November Rush Limbaugh blasted Pope Francis for his anti-capitalist economic statements. Rush Limbaugh admitted being “befuddled” by the harsh words about “unfettered capitalism” released by Pope Francis. “If it weren’t for capitalism I don’t know where the Catholic Church would be?” The Pope has gone beyond Catholicism here… This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the Pope.” [video] Today Pope Francis responded saying, “The Marxist ideology is wrong.” But, then he went on to attack free-market “trickle-down” economics. Via Vatican Insider: Some of the passages in the “Evangelii Gaudium” attracted the criticism of ultraconservatives in...

Or: The Dangers of the Church (When it Meddles with Affairs of the State) Right, not a pleasant topic, to be sure and I expect to receive some flak for this. First, I’ll confess to admiring some aspects of the path the man who is Pope Francis has taken. I have been glad to read reports that he has rejected some of the trappings of the papacy and that he appears in some ways to be an in-touch-with-the-common-man Pope. However, to use his pulpit to preach about the “failings” of capitalism is, I believe, not his place. I’d be quite...

It is fascinating that the recent debate over poverty, starring Rush Limbaugh and Pope Francis (maybe, translations subject to disagreement) reveals one central dispute: (a) compulsory "charity" by government force, on the left, versus (b) the freedom of each individual to voluntarily donate to charity and make one's own decisions about his or her life, on the right. Forget what either Rush or Francis said. The raging debates that followed are most revealing. Liberals have consistently abused Christian teaching to attack free enterprise and spread socialism. These are not just Catholics, of course. In fact, most -- or all --...

I'm annoyed that so many Hollywood celebrities hate the system that made them rich. Actor/comedian Russell Brand told the BBC he wants "a socialist, egalitarian system based on the massive redistribution of wealth." Director George Lucas got rich not just from movies but also by selling Star Wars merchandise. Yet he says he believes in democracy but "not capitalist democracy." Actor Martin Sheen says, "That's where the problem lies ... It's corporate America." And so on. On my TV show, actor/author Kevin Sorbo pointed out that such sentiments make little sense coming from entertainers. "It's a very entrepreneurial business. You...

Click to buy! Michael Coren, the author of the recent title The Future of Catholicism, has a comment about a Pope who condemned “unfettered” capitalism.Keep in mind that “unfettered” capitalism is nowhere to be found.With that… from Coren on Mercatornet: I hadn’t realized that Pope Francis was a Marxist until two weeks ago. This was when he issued his lyrical, compelling [poor translated] Gospel of Joy and was immediately described as a fellow travelling socialist by left as well as right; the former with delight, the latter with horror.The truth, of course, is that all the Holy Father did was...