You’re absolutely right. Unfortunately a lot of people forget that caveat. They also forget that in an environment where capital is fairly cheap (which hasn’t

You’re absolutely right. Unfortunately a lot of people forget that caveat. They also forget that in an environment where capital is fairly cheap (which hasn’t been the case in human history until extremely recently) the margins shouldn’t be compared against other industry players, etc, but rather against the overall cost of capital on the market. Comparing margins across industry is useful because if your margins are lower than your competitors then it could indicate inefficiencies or mistakes you might be making. But one needs to understand why those margins are lower. Apple, for example, can enjoy much higher margins than Dell, because although they are in the same industry, the brand and value proposition Apple brings is very different from Dell’s. Dell could try and chase the margins Apple has, but it would have to then become a very different company from what it currently is.