“…In the first quarter of 2018 alone, with the new tax law fully in force, American corporations bought back a record $178 billion in stock.21 During this period, the market hit record highs. When a corporation buys stock, it should…
COVID-19
Real versus Fictitious: The Pandemic Closing In on the World of Finance
“The COVID-19 pandemic is stretching the contradictions of the present economic arrangements to the limits. The system survived inflating financial assets and feeding on inequalities. The divide between the real economy and the sphere of finance cannot be left unchecked…
As the pandemic continues, the rich are getting richer than ever before — and economists are getting concerned
“If the COVID-19 pandemic has produced winners and losers, then young Canadian billionaire Tobias Lütke is definitely a winner. Since the start of the pandemic in March, the 40-year-old CEO of Ottawa-based e-commerce company Shopify Inc., has watched his personal…
Stock buybacks have totaled $5.3 trillion over the past decade — has that contributed to U.S. pandemic failures?
“…Authors William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts and the president of the Academic-Industry Research Network, and Matt Hopkins, a Ph.D. student at SOAS University of London and a senior researcher at the Academic-Industry Research Network,…
Big Pharma Wants to Pocket the Profits From a COVID Treatment You Already Paid For
… “In an April 30, 2020 letter from Representatives Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, the Representatives requested “an appropriate accounting of the taxpayers’ investments. … to ensure patients and…
Covid-19: Closing Down Was Easy; Re-Opening Will Be Hard
“Ensuring the health and safety of our people and our communities is our highest priority as the United States quickly mobilizes to slow the spread of Covid-19,” said McDonald’s. via PRovoke I by Paul Holmes I May 18, 2020 [Click HERE…
No Vaccine in Sight
… “Though early shifts in IP law set the stage for this financialization, it soon became a self-fueling cycle. Pharma today is a creature of Wall Street, where high drug prices are not intended to fund future R&D so much…
Top US companies lay off thousands of workers while rewarding shareholders amid coronavirus pandemic
“Some of the largest companies in the U.S. have rewarded their shareholders amid the coronavirus pandemic after firing thousands of employees. Companies like heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar, denim-maker Levi Strauss, toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker, furniture manufacturer Steelcase and World Wrestling Entertainment have…
Top US companies lay off thousands of workers while rewarding shareholders amid coronavirus pandemic
“In a downturn like this the first thing a company should do is give up any distributions to shareholders,” William Lazonick, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, told The Post. “But in a crisis, companies will differ. Some…
U.S. companies cut thousands of workers while continuing to reward shareholders during pandemic
“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…