The cost of each cork used in bottling Veritas Vineyards wine is currently greater than the cost of each glass bottle itself. Each bottle of Veritas Vineyards wine that is sold today brings the winegrower less profit than did each bottle sold in 1991. The aggregate profit generated by the winegrower's sales of Veritas Vineyards wine this year is smaller than the aggregate profit generated in 1991. The number of bottles of Veritas Vineyards wine sold has remained unchanged between 1991 and the present.
The wholesale price of one bottle of Veritas Vineyards wine, always a profitable brand, is the same today as it was in 1991. The winegrower' s profit is equal to the wholesale price minus the costs of producing the bottled wine, which include the cost to the winegrower of the glass bottles themselves and of the corks. Between 1991 and the present, all of the costs to the winegrower of producing a bottle of Veritas Vineyards wine have remained constant, except that of the corks, which cost nearly twice as much today as they did in 1991.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them?