Another ‘Eureka!’ Moment on Buybacks

(1) Why does a senator from Wisconsin want to ban buybacks? (2) The Baldwin report is a fundamentally flawed analysis of corporate finance. (3) Are corporate executives looters? (4) We calculate that since 2011, S&P 500 companies repurchased 72 billion shares. So why is share count down only 22 billion? (5) Roughly 2/3 of buybacks may be offsetting share dilution from employee stock plans. (6) TCJA reduced incentive to pay employees with stock. (7) Meet the intellectual godfather behind the progressive movement to limit or ban buybacks.