Why Is There A Deafening Silence on Stock Buybacks from Centrist Democrats?

Why haven’t Democrats been hammering Republicans with this explosive issue in election after election over the past decade?

Chart created by author. Data from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Related

• Republican Governors Now Agree That Stock Buybacks Harm Working Americans
• 5 Things You Need to Know About U.S. Stock Buybacks
• Taxpayer Money Will Pay for Intel’s $81 Billion in Stock Buybacks…?
• Did This Happen by Accident to 89% of America’s Stock Market Wealth?

Recent

• Bruce Springsteen and 6 Fundamental Human Values Key to His Success
• The 2 Reasons Populations Are Collapsing in Developed Countries
• 3 Key Facts Everyone Is Missing About Biden’s Student Loan Debt Relief

Potential to Change the Way You Think

• Why Are Fundamental Human Values Critically Important for Successful, Enduring Brands?
• Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Costs in the U.S. (and Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, etc.)
• (1a/9) “Top-Down” Makes More Sense Than “Left-Right” in the U.S.

Part 1. Intro — Refresh on Stock Buybacks

Stock buybacks.

They are just something that companies do, right? Not a big deal.

Or are they?

In 2022, S&P 500 companies are projected to spend over $1 trillion on stock buybacks . . . after having spent over $880 billion on stock buybacks in 2021!

For most people, 1 trillion dollars is such a large, abstract number, it’s hard to have a real sense of how much it is and what it represents.

This chart will put it into perspective for you. It compares S&P 500 stock buybacks in 2022 to total U.S. spending for:

1. veterans and federal retirees;
2. annual interest cost on the national debt;
3. U.S. defense spending;
4. Social Security spending; and
5. the combination of (1) Medicare, (2) Medicaid, (3) the…