By Lynn Stuart Parramore (originally published by Quartz) - Right now, somewhere in the darkest regions of cyberspace, somebody is very possibly using bitcoins to buy highly sensitive information about you – your phone number, address, Social Security number, and driver’s license number… [Cross-poposted from Quartz publication of October 10, 2017 at https://qz.com/1097293/the-equifax-breach-happened-because-todays-executives-know-theyve-got-nothing-to-fear/]
Archive | The Debate
FollowThe big and possibly dumb buyback boom,
By Justin Fox (originally published by Bloomberg View) - Buybacks are really popular right now! In February, according to research firm TrimTabs, U.S. corporations announced $153.7 billion in share repurchases – a new one-month record. Investment strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimate that buybacks will total more than $800 billion this year, which would also be a record… [Cross-posted from Bloomberg View publication of March 6, […]
Are stock buybacks deepening America’s inequality?
By Matt Egan (originally published by CNNMoney) - One of Wall Street’s favorite tools could be deepening the growing chasm between America’s rich and poor… [Cross-posted from CNNMoney publication of March 5, 2018 at http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/05/investing/stock-buybacks-inequality-tax-law/index.html]
New tax law benefiting shareholders more than workers so far
By Arthur Delaney (originally published by The Huffington Post) - Since President Donald Trump signed the Republican tax bill in December, hundreds of retail companies have announced employee bonuses totaling more than $3 billion, which Republicans have said proves them right that the new law benefits regular Americans… [Cross-posted from The Huffington Post publication of March 2, 2018 […]
Democrats biggest threat in 2018
By Ronald Brownstein (originally published by The Atlantic) - The biggest threat to Democrats in the 2018 election may be the risk of repeating their biggest mistake in the 2016 election… [Cross-posted from The Atlantic publication of March 1, 2018 at https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/democrats-tax-plan-2018/554561/]
Analysis: Major corporations have spent just 6% of tax cut windfall on workers. Guess where the other 94% went
By Jake Johnson (originally published by Common Dreams) - Almost everyone—nonpartisan commentators, economists, and even President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser—predicted that corporate shareholders and CEOs, not workers, would be the primary beneficiaries of the Republican tax law, and several recent analyses have shown that prediction to be right on the money… [Cross-posted from Common Dreams publication of February […]
Tax cuts scoreboard: Workers $5.2B, shareholders $172B
By Chris Hayes (originally published by MSNBC All-In) - The total amount that’s gone to shareholders thanks to stock buybacks since the Trump tax cut is 34 times what workers have gotten in the form of bonuses and wage increases. Click HERE to watch MSNBC news… [Cross-posted from MSNBC All-In publication of February 27, 2018 at https://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/trump-after-mccabe-firing-is-mueller-next-1188997187540]
Let’s call the GOP tax bill what it is: the ‘Tax Cuts for Shareholders’ Act
By Lenore Palladino (originally published by Truthout) - In the six weeks since the passage of the GOP tax plan, officially known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, businesses have been lauded for announcements of wages and bonuses… [Cross-posted from Truthout publication of February 23, 2018 at http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43634-the-tax-cuts-for-shareholders-act] Truthout article reprinted in Next New Deal publication of February 20, 2018 […]
All those share buybacks: What’s tax cuts got to do, got to do with it?
By Jared Bernstein (originally published by The Washington Post) - In recent days, there’s been an uptick in discussions about stock buybacks and the tax plan. I’ve joined the debate on both Twitter and CNBC. Here’s why and how I think this matters… [Cross-posted from The Washington Post publication of February 23, 2018 at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/02/23/all-those-share-buybacks-whats-tax-cuts-got-to-do-got-to-do-with-it/?utm_term=.f58f3bfbd17e]
Why profits aren’t enough
By Judith F. Samuelson (originally published by The Aspen Institute) – When Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and the largest holder of virtually every listed stock, wrote to CEOs last month, he gave fuel to a forty-year-old debate about the corporation… [Cross-posted from The Aspen Institute publication of February 22, 2018 at https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/profits-arent-enough/]