On 6/25/07, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Doug Henwood wrote:
> That's why they do it, but in the U.S. they've been doing a lot of it
> for like 20 years. They seem to be telling us that despite apparently
> high profitability, they've got no better use for their cash than
> passing it along to shareholders.
or maybe "shareholder democracy" (or the "discipline of the stock
market") won't let them use retained earnings to expand their
companies?
Maybe there really is a shortage of investment opportunities. The real
question is how are they getting away with giving so much back to
their owners and so little to their workforce? Especially in a
supposedly tight labor market.
On an unrelated note I believe there are tax reasons why corporations
are using buybacks instead of dividends (the so-called double-taxation
of dividends). Plus of course the impact of buybacks on management
stock options..
-raghu.
