By Martin Lipton “Again in 2014, as in the two previous years, there has been an increase in the number and intensity of attacks by activist hedge funds. Indeed, 2014 could well be called the “year of the wolf pack.”……
AIR IMPACT
Recognition of AIR research, opinions, and people in the media and elsewhere
U.S. share buybacks rebound but face sharp criticism
By S. L. Mintz “In late November, Yum Brands offered a twofer: The fast-food company said it would rev up stock buybacks by $1 billion through May 2016 and boost its dividend rate by double digits. Yum’s moves are part…
Robert Reich is right: Higher wages aren’t coming back, and here’s why
By Erik Sherman “Former Labor Secretary and current academic, activist, and commentator Robert Reich just wrote a blog post titled Why Wages Won’t Rise. He observes something that has been clear in every single Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly jobs report…
The Van Hollen plan takes on soaring CEO pay: A debate we need to have
By Susan Holmberg “Taxpayers are subsidizing ever-larger executive pay packages while their own wages stagnate. For the middle class to prosper, that needs to change.”… [Click HERE to read the full article]
The threat to shareholders from activist hedge funds
By Martin Lipton “Again in 2014, as in the two previous years, there has been an increase in the number and intensity of attacks by activist hedge funds. Indeed, 2014 could well be called the “year of the wolf pack.”……
Share buybacks: Trick or treat
By Thomas D. Saler “Here’s a simple math problem. Let’s assume that that the top number of a fraction (the numerator, which in this case we’ll say represents a company’s profits) is 3. And we’ll pretend the bottom number (the…
David Brooks misconceives the meaningful life
By Steve Denning “I have often remarked that David Brooks, the conservative columnist for the New York Times, is always interesting. Even when entirely misguided, he stimulates us to think.”… [Click HERE to read the full article]
The innovative state: the government should make markets, not just fix them
By Mariana Mazzucato “The conventional view of what the state should do to foster innovation is simple: it just needs to get out of the way. At best, governments merely facilitate the economic dynamism of the private sector; at worst,…
Labor in the Twenty-First Century: The Top 0.1% and the Disappearing Middle-Class
By Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) “Since the beginning of the 1980s, employment relations in U.S. industrial corporations have undergone three major structural changes – summarized as “rationalization,” “marketization,” and “globalization” – that have permanently eliminated middle-class jobs in the…
Best of 2014: Taking Stock of the Year in Equities
By David Larrabee “Early in 2014, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas president Richard Fisher acknowledged, “There are increasing signs quantitative easing has overstayed its welcome . . . Stock market metrics such as price to projected forward earnings, price-to-sales ratios, and…
