<story><title>Stock buybacks are dangerous for the economy</title><url>http://feeds.hbr.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/6jA8uy6spIQ/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for-the-economy</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>crazygringo</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Taking on debt to finance buybacks, however, is bad management, given that no revenue-generating investments are made that can allow the company to pay off the debt.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be the crux of the article, and it appears to be completely unsubstantiated.&lt;p&gt;First of all, this article isn&amp;#x27;t about just stock buybacks -- the argument of the article applies broadly to dividends just as much, save for minor details.&lt;p&gt;The point the article is making is that profits ought to be reinvested rather than paid out. But &lt;i&gt;obviously&lt;/i&gt; mature firms often can&amp;#x27;t find ways to reliably re-invest. They don&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;need&lt;/i&gt; to grow any further, nor should they. So investors &lt;i&gt;want&lt;/i&gt; them not to re-invest, and throw off dividends or buybacks instead. This way &lt;i&gt;investors&lt;/i&gt; can fund the next generation of companies.&lt;p&gt;And taking on debt to do it isn&amp;#x27;t inherently irresponsible. In fact, it&amp;#x27;s just a wise financial decision when interest rates are low. New revenue streams aren&amp;#x27;t required to be generated -- it&amp;#x27;s just shifting a subset of future revenue to the present.&lt;p&gt;So I really don&amp;#x27;t get this article at all.</text></comment>
<story><title>Stock buybacks are dangerous for the economy</title><url>http://feeds.hbr.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/6jA8uy6spIQ/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for-the-economy</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>AnthonyMouse</author><text>High corporate debt isn&amp;#x27;t caused by buybacks, it&amp;#x27;s caused by low interest rates. Low interest rates &lt;i&gt;cause&lt;/i&gt; buybacks because it becomes more attractive to raise capital through borrowing than selling shares.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s the same reason both consumer and government debt are also high. But anybody who thinks now is the time for higher interest rates is a bit confused.&lt;p&gt;If anything now is the time to print a bunch of new money to counteract the existing deflationary forces caused by the coronavirus, which in the long term is what allows interest rates to rise, since once the deflationary forces wane the printed money would start to cause inflation which could be counteracted by at that point raising interest rates.</text></comment>