[sonofaplum]

I think this article is interesting, but I think it is mistaken on focusing on the mechanism (stock buybacks) vs the attitude, which is a general focus on value extraction rather than value creation.

I think that in this era of American business, companies are so efficient at extracting value that they've basically forgotten how to innovate. Innovation is delegated to startups, and incumbents focus on financial engineering and extraction. It's foolish to think that one rule change caused this attitude shift and that one rule change will change it back.

[cameldrv]

This. Additionally though, we are in a very low interest rate environment. One way to look at this is that there is intense demand for corporate debt relative to equity. Issuing bonds and then doing a buyback or a dividend is really just changing how the company is financed, debt vs. equity.

However, equity prices have also been quite high, so this points to the fact that in general, people want money later rather than money now, and the high asset prices/low rates of return are saying that the market does not know how to provide a good rate of return. The only way you get a high real rate of return in the economy is to innovate.