"Stock Buybacks Blamed for Lack of U.S. Prosperity"(MarketWatch: Sept. 2, 2014)
Corporate Profits at All Time High (% of GDP and absolute $).
A mere 9% of profits allocated to retained earnings and investments:
"University of Massachusetts economics professor William Lazonick says corporate buybacks are lining executives’ pockets, but are coming at the expense of productivity as well as overall prosperity"
"Stock-based instruments make up the majority of CEO pay, and in the short term buybacks drive up stock prices. He says executives made, on average, $30.3 million each, with 42% stemming from stock options and 41% from stock awards."
"buyback initiatives could come back to haunt the markets at some point."
No shit.
No shit.
Every four hours a CEO makes as much as a minimum wage employee makes in a year
In 1965, the average CEO made 20x as much as the average employee. Today, the average CEO makes 300x
That's a lot of money to ship jobs to China and issue debt to pay *special dividends* (and then invest 9% of what's left-over)
