On: Stock buybacks are dangerous for the economy

[pauljurczak]

Really? So why they are asking for a bailout now if they had not deprived themselves of needed liquidity? Have they not noticed the cyclical nature of economy?

What is happening is executive suite milks the cow to death as fast as possible, because there no adverse consequences for them. They think they will be safe in their bunkers in New Zealand when the shit hits the fan.

[IanDrake → pauljurczak]

Who took on more debt just for stock buyback that is now asking for a bailout?

[pauljurczak → IanDrake]

It's not necessarily about taking debt to buyback their stock. It is about free cash flow. Here are some facts:

"As a group, the six [major US] airlines spent 96% of their free cash flow on stock buybacks over the past 10 full years through 2019."

"Boeing’s free cash flow for 10 years totaled $58.37 billion, while the company spent $43.44 billion, or 74% of free cash flow, on stock repurchases."