Jack wrote:

Gov't making 50 cents on a gallon is between 40 and 66 cents. The oil
companies make far, far, far less at 6 - 8% profit/ and they do all
the work. The asshole socialists want to tack on a windfall profit
tax on companies making a small profit, while they are the ones
ripping off the public. Then, the dicks turn around and give 1/2 a
billion to Solyndra to **** away into the wind. Meanwhile, MS and
Apple are making 30-40% profits on their monopoly, and no one even
whispers windfall profit. Quite a joke.


That's because Microsoft and Apple are not exactly monopolies: they have
robust and effective competitors. Their competitors are themselves.

If they didn't improve their products with new features and the like, their
revenue streams would wither.

So it is with most "monopolies." They've got to periodically provide a
better product at a lower price or they're out of business. The exceptions
to this rule are the monopolies established or controlled by some agency of
government (think cable TV).