“[The companies lobbying on this] say they need the subsidies to give them an incentive to invest,” said William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at University of Massachusetts, who coauthored the study on semiconductor industry buybacks. “Well, the companies that…
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Boeing’s Deadly Design | American Greed
William Lazonick interview on “Boeing’s Deadly Design,” an episode of American Greed aired by CNBC on January 26, 2022. [Click HERE to read more]
Apple becomes the first company to hit $3 trillion market value
…Apple, for instance, has spent billions of dollars buying its own stock while also using low-wage workers to assemble its products, working hard to avoid taxes and tariffs, and continually raising the prices on its devices. “Apple could have gone and…
With CHIPS Act, US Risks Building a White Elephant
…”Several U.S. tech companies now lobbying for the CHIPS Act have squandered past support from the U.S. government while instead showing more appetite for share buybacks to boost company stock prices. Among the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) corporate signatories of…
Stock buybacks are back, baby
…”William Lazonick, president of the Academic-Industry Research Network and a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, said that buybacks were being fueled by public spending to the extent that “profits are being generated by the fact that…
What a tax on stock buybacks would and wouldn’t mean for the bull market
…And then there’s Apple, with the biggest share repurchase program of all, and a customer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which has started construction on a $12 billion plant in Arizona. “Apple is spending six times that in one year…
$500 billion: US corporations increase share buybacks to new record
In 2021, companies will spend more on buying their own shares than ever before. That drives stock prices – but lets the debts rise. [Click HERE to read more]
How the World Ran Out of Everything
…Still, the shortages raise questions about whether some companies have been too aggressive in harvesting savings by slashing inventory, leaving them unprepared for whatever trouble inevitably emerges. “It’s the investments that they don’t make,” said William Lazonick, an economist at…
Toward a System of Balanced Capitalism – Can Japan Avoid the Dangers of “Financialization”?
“…What Went Wrong in the US: the Phenomenon of Financialization The above problems are all seen as associated with the ongoing trend toward large firm value extraction, as opposed to value creation. These terms were coined by William Lazonick, author…
Stock Buybacks Stand in the Way of Biden’s Infrastructure Plan
Hedge fund managers are pushing American firms to play Wall Street games instead of investing in technologies of the future. China doesn’t have that problem.