<story><title>S&amp;P 500 Buybacks Now Outpace All R&amp;D Spending in the US</title><url>https://thesoundingline.com/sp-500-buybacks-now-outpace-all-rd-spending-in-the-us/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>crazygringo</author><text>That doesn&amp;#x27;t make any sense. The market is the most efficient capital allocator because &lt;i&gt;shareholders&lt;/i&gt; are the market, not companies.&lt;p&gt;Companies are giving their cash back to shareholders because &lt;i&gt;each individual company&lt;/i&gt; thinks their shareholders can &lt;i&gt;better&lt;/i&gt; allocate the cash, rather than the companies themselves. This is equally true for both buybacks and dividends.&lt;p&gt;This is because most companies have no wish to operate like broad VC firms or investment firms. While plenty of shareholders do.&lt;p&gt;The government has all the infinite &amp;quot;dibs&amp;quot; it wants, they&amp;#x27;re called taxes. If the government wants to tax buybacks further it doesn&amp;#x27;t need any particular logic of &amp;quot;dibs&amp;quot; to do so. And right now buybacks &lt;i&gt;are&lt;/i&gt; taxed in exactly the same way as capital gains, which is the same way qualified dividends are taxed too. And corporate profits are already taxed too.</text></item><item><author>try-perforate</author><text>Read an idea in American Affairs in support of taxing buybacks. The logic goes that if all companies have a fiduciary duty to shareholders because the market is the most efficient capital allocator, AND all companies are giving their cash back to shareholders, THEN it must be true that the market can not figure out how to efficiently allocate this $1T of capital. Thus, the government should have “next dibs” for items on the agenda that it knows need capital, namely infrastructure and healthcare.&lt;p&gt;Thought that was an interesting take.&lt;p&gt;Edit: here is the link but it may be behind a paywall. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;americanaffairsjournal.org&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;share-buybacks-and-the-contradictions-of-shareholder-capitalism&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;americanaffairsjournal.org&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;share-buybacks-an...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>aczerepinski</author><text>Buying back stock only creates value for shareholders if the stock is trading for less than its intrinsic value. Above that price buybacks destroy shareholder value.&lt;p&gt;Executives are doing this to meet performance targets and get bonuses. Not to allocate capital efficiently.</text></comment>
<story><title>S&amp;P 500 Buybacks Now Outpace All R&amp;D Spending in the US</title><url>https://thesoundingline.com/sp-500-buybacks-now-outpace-all-rd-spending-in-the-us/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>crazygringo</author><text>That doesn&amp;#x27;t make any sense. The market is the most efficient capital allocator because &lt;i&gt;shareholders&lt;/i&gt; are the market, not companies.&lt;p&gt;Companies are giving their cash back to shareholders because &lt;i&gt;each individual company&lt;/i&gt; thinks their shareholders can &lt;i&gt;better&lt;/i&gt; allocate the cash, rather than the companies themselves. This is equally true for both buybacks and dividends.&lt;p&gt;This is because most companies have no wish to operate like broad VC firms or investment firms. While plenty of shareholders do.&lt;p&gt;The government has all the infinite &amp;quot;dibs&amp;quot; it wants, they&amp;#x27;re called taxes. If the government wants to tax buybacks further it doesn&amp;#x27;t need any particular logic of &amp;quot;dibs&amp;quot; to do so. And right now buybacks &lt;i&gt;are&lt;/i&gt; taxed in exactly the same way as capital gains, which is the same way qualified dividends are taxed too. And corporate profits are already taxed too.</text></item><item><author>try-perforate</author><text>Read an idea in American Affairs in support of taxing buybacks. The logic goes that if all companies have a fiduciary duty to shareholders because the market is the most efficient capital allocator, AND all companies are giving their cash back to shareholders, THEN it must be true that the market can not figure out how to efficiently allocate this $1T of capital. Thus, the government should have “next dibs” for items on the agenda that it knows need capital, namely infrastructure and healthcare.&lt;p&gt;Thought that was an interesting take.&lt;p&gt;Edit: here is the link but it may be behind a paywall. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;americanaffairsjournal.org&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;share-buybacks-and-the-contradictions-of-shareholder-capitalism&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;americanaffairsjournal.org&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;share-buybacks-an...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tw04</author><text>The point is both the companies in question and the ultra-wealthy that are the beneficiaries of the vast majority of these buybacks AREN&amp;#x27;T paying taxes, so it&amp;#x27;s another way for the government to at least attempt to capture the $$ that should already be going into the treasury instead of offshore accounts&amp;#x2F;subsidiaries&amp;#x2F;whatever double dutch triple lux tax evasion scheme of the month they&amp;#x27;re using.</text></comment>