财税茶座

经济学人： In the nearly 40 years that The Economist has served up its Big Mac index, the price of the McDonald’s burger in America has more than tripled. In that same period the cost of another meaty treat—a hot-dog-and-drink combo at Costco—has remained steady at $1.50. Last year customers of the American big-box retailer devoured 200m of them. Richard Galanti, Costco’s longtime finance boss, once promised to keep the price frozen “for ever”. 《经济学人》提供巨无霸指数近 40 年来，美国麦当劳汉堡的价格上涨了两倍多。同一时期，另一种肉类食品（Costco 的热狗饮料组合）的价格一直稳定在 1.5 美元。去年，这家美国大型零售商的顾客消费了 2 亿件。 Costco 的长期财务主管理查德·加兰蒂 (Richard Galanti) 曾承诺“永远”保持价格冻结。 Customers are not the only fans of Costco, as the outpouring of affection from Wall Street analysts after Mr Galanti announced his retirement on February 6th made clear. The firm’s share price is 430 times what it was when he took the job nearly four decades ago, compared with 25 times for the s&p 500 index of large companies. It has continued to outperform the market in recent years. Wh