Corporations announced a staggering $233.8 billion in stock buybacks in April, the second-highest monthly total ever recorded. But unlike previous buyback bonanzas, this isn’t a sign of economic strength or corporate confidence. Quite the opposite. Are buybacks just one big shell game or are they fiscally prudent? Corporate stock buybacks have inspired great debate since a Reagan era tax law change and a Clinton era deal sweetener. On the one hand they have enriched shareholders and made executives extremely wealthy. On the other hand, the growth in buybacks mean companies aren’t investing in innovation, workers, or expansion. Let’s talk about it. Resources Longtermtrends: S&P 500 PE Ratio FRED: Quarterly Financial Report: U.S. Corporations: All Information: Total Cash on Hand and in U.S. Banks BNN Bloomberg: Corporate America plans record stock buybacks as turmoil mounts – BNN Bloomberg Bipartisan Policy Center: How the U.S. Taxes Stock Buybacks and Dividends Congress.gov: Stock Buybacks: Concerns over Debt-Financing and Long-Term Investing Federal Reserve Bank of Boston: The Great Leverage 2.0? A Tale of Different Indicators of Corporate Leverage Penn Wharton: Raise the Excise Tax Rate on Stock Repurchases Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP: Newly Proposed Regulations on Stock Buyback Excise Tax Largely Adopt Approach From Initial IRS Guidance The New Republic: Bill Clinton Created This Terrible Corporate Loophole. Will Hillary Close It? ProPublica: The Executive Pay Cap That Backfired Harvard: Short-Termism And Capital Flows Roosevelt Institute: Regulating Stock Buybacks: The $6.3 Trillion Question ICIJ: The Panama Papers: Exposing the Rogue Offshore Finance Industry -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook , Bluesky , TikTok and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com . Join our Discord at unftr.com/discord . Become a member at unftr.com/memberships . Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com . Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations . Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility . Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media ( mannyfacesmedia.com ). Original music is by Tom McGovern ( tommcgovern.com ). The show is hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
