[jondubois]

>> just take one simple truth away from a glance at it: investments grow over time

This statement is false. The truth is that "investments have grown over time". It's not necessarily true that they will continue to grow over time. The efficiency benefits of corporate growth have been reached long ago and are on the decline. Corporate growth today relies on crooked government policies, stock buybacks and other methods of wealth concentration without value creation - There is no guarantee that it will stay like this; people are already wising up to this.

[sokoloff]

I don't understand the ire against share buybacks. They're just a more tax efficient and flexible form of dividends to shareholders than traditional cash dividends.

Dividends (broadly construed) are the original reason an investor placed money into a firm. If you outlaw all forms of dividends, you end arms-length investing, which surely harms people more, IMO.

[trepanne]

> I don't understand the ire against share buybacks. They're just a more tax efficient and flexible form of dividends to shareholders than traditional cash dividends.

Not OP, and I think his ire is misplaced here... but MY ire against share buybacks is because the flexibility is misused.

Setting aside taxes - share repurchases benefit stockholders more than dividends when a company's shares are undervalued; the converse is also true. However, management's incentive tends to be to maximize their comp (particularly stock options) by juicing the stock as it rises. Companies usually buy high, and suspend share repurchases when the stock is low.

There are exceptions; AAPL corporate finance does a great job. But as a rule, company treasuries do a lousy job of trading in their own shares because of poorly aligned incentives.