Do you know the difference (in purpose) between managerial accounting and financial accounting? What about the difference between return on equity and rate of increase in stock price (assuming that the company is publicly traded)? Is the U.S. budget deficit more like an expense or a liability? How about the U.S. debt? In other words, learn basic accounting. (On Hacker News most participants have not.) Whole Foods and Apple are both very successful business. One has very high "variable cost" (or as the economists say, "marginal cost" or "cost at the margin") and consequently their marginal income or "profit margin" is much lower. Which one is it? If you own stock in some company, do you care more about its marginal income's being high or its return on equity's being high?

Each of these questions has an unambiguous answer that all accountants and informed businessmen will agree on.