来自于联邦贸易委员会的坏消息

提高资本回报只有5个可能的来源，其中最后一个就是销售额之上更高的运营利润率。一些乐观主义者希望在这里能有重要的改善。没有证据表明他们的乐观是错误的。但是，一个美元的销售里面只有100个美分。在我们得到剩余的部分也就是税前利润之前还有很多东西要花钱。主要的东西有人力成本、原材料、能源和各种各样的非所得税。这些成本的比重在通胀时期不太可能降低。

最近的统计数据并不支持通胀时期利润率提高的想法。1965年之前的10年是一个通胀相对较低的时期。在这一时期，制造厂商每季度向联邦贸易委员会报告的年平均税前利润率为8.6%。1965到1975年的10年是一个通胀相对较高的时期。而这一时期年平均税前利润率为8%。虽然通胀显著提高，利润率却降低了。

如果一个行业能够根据重置成本定价，那么在通胀时期利润率会提高。但是，一个简单的事实：大多数大型企业虽然有巨大的实力，却无法提高利润率。重置成本会计几乎总是显示企业盈利在过去10年显著下降。如果这些大型企业如石油、钢铁、铝业等确实有寡头垄断的实力却无法提价，我们只能得出结论：他们的定价权受到了明显的限制。

至此我们已经总结了所有因素：在我的分析之中，所有5个能够提高普通股票回报的因素都不可能在通胀时期带我们走的太远。你也许能得出比我更乐观的结论。但是，记住12%左右的回报已经持续了很长时间。

巴菲特：《通货膨胀如何欺诈股票投资者》（十一）

Bad news from the FTC

The last of our five possible sources of increased returns on equity is wider operating margins on sales. Here is where some optimists would hope to achieve major gains. There is no proof that they are wrong. But there are only 100 cents in the sales dollar and a lot of demands on that dollar before we get down to the residual, pretax profits. The major claimants are labor, raw materials energy, and various non-income taxes. The relative importance of these costs hardly, seems likely to decline during an age of inflation.

Recent statistical evidence, furthermore, does not inspire confidence in the proposition that margins will widen in, a period of inflation. In the decade ending in 1965, a period of relatively low inflation, the universe of manufacturing companies reported on quarterly by the Federal Trade Commission had an average annual pretax margin on sales of 8.6 percent. In the decade ending in 1975, the average margin was 8 percent. Margins were down, in other words, despite a very considerable increase in the inflation rate.

If business was able to base its prices on replacement costs, margins would widen in inflationary periods. But the simple fact is that most large businesses, despite a widespread belief in their market power, just don't manage to pull it off. Replacement cost accounting almost always shows that corporate earnings have declined significantly in the past decade. If such major industries as oil, steel, and aluminum really have the oligopolistic muscle imputed to them, one can only conclude that their pricing policies have been remarkably restrained.

There you have, the complete lineup: five factors that can improve returns on common equity, none of which, by my analysis, are likely to take us very far in that direction in periods of high inflation. You may have emerged from this exercise more optimistic than I am. But remember, returns in the 12 percent area have been with us a long time.