“William Lazonick, an emeritus economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, has been one of the leading critics of companies that distribute cash to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends rather than reinvesting the profits into employees, innovation…

“On such a model, it makes intuitive sense for the government to take equity from the companies in which it is itself an investor. A government loan, for example, is essentially a government investment; and in general, it is well…

“Tripp Babbitt shares his interpretation of wide-ranging aspects and implications of Dr. Deming’s theory of management. This month he looks at the Coronavirus crisis, past crises, and where we go from here.” [Click HERE to listen the interview]

“Stock-based compensation plans for corporate executives are the main driving force behind the stock buyback binges. Professor William Lazonick writes, “Stock-based instruments make up the majority of the executives’ pay, and in the short term buybacks drive up stock prices.”…

“Against the backdrop of President Ronald Reagan’s deregulatory drive in the 1980s, restrictions on buybacks were loosened, executives were granted a safe harbor from stock-price manipulation charges and a culture of “shareholder value” was born. A wave of hostile takeovers…

“We are concerned that your Administration has already indicated its willingness to invest heavily in public-private partnerships without any conditions in place to guarantee affordable drug pricing and access. On February 4, 2020, the HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development…