by Henry Oliner | Aug 7, 2022 | Business
The Sinema negotiation on the Orwellian named Inflation Reduction Act levies a tax on stock buybacks. As Tyler Cowen notes it is a tax on capital, a bad idea in neutral times and a worse idea in a recession or whatever you choose to call a multi period decline in GDP....
by Henry Oliner | May 21, 2020 | Business, Economy
The sharp rebound of the stock market has been as surprising as the sharp selloff in March. Unemployment has reached levels unseen since the Great Depression of 1929; production has dropped 40% and M2 money creation is up 25%, all in the space of only a few months....
by Henry Oliner | Apr 18, 2020 | Business, Health
Human progress seems to come in waves of euphoria and depression, and each is in many ways a reaction to the other. At our pinnacles we delude ourselves into thinking we have overcome our fragility; in the abyss we underestimate our inner strengths and resiliencies. ...
by Henry Oliner | Apr 8, 2020 | Business, Economics, Politics
Generally, corporations avoid excess cash especially when it is low yielding. Their job is to generate cash and deploy it to generate a return on assets which with leverage becomes a return on equity. Using cash to buy back stock makes sense when you think your stock...
by Henry Oliner | Mar 25, 2020 | Business, Politics
Apparently, many people think buybacks are an inappropriate use of corporate funds and should be banned when receiving a bailout, which is part of the passed Covid Bill. I do not have a problem with that portion of the bill; buybacks are appropriate when you have no...
by Henry Oliner | Dec 4, 2019 | Business
From Kevin Williamson at National Review, We Are Not Winning the Trade War: The problem with winning a race to the bottom is that you end up at the bottom. Being poor is the worst kind of competitive advantage to have, and only two kinds of people pursue that...
