In the last 2 weeks, we have seen politicians on both sides of the political spectrum come out in favor of changing the rules for companies to buy back their own shares.  That is not the answer!  We can either raise taxes on companies or invest in our workforce.  But if we mandate how a company can spend its capital, we may as well declare Capitalism dead.

Just in the last 2 weeks we have seen politicians on both sides of the spectrum suggest reforming the ability of a company to buy back its own shares.

First, Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders wrote an op/ed taking the draconian view that restricts buybacks: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/04/schumer-and-sanders-swipe-at-trump-tax-cuts-with-stock-buybacks-plan.html

Then, Marco Rubio discussed changing the tax status of buybacks to dissuade companies from doing them: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/rubio-backs-new-proposal-to-tackle-stock-buybacks.html

Neither will work!  The only way we can get companies to change their capital allocation is to improve our workforce through education.  Raising taxes on companies back to a more rational 26% makes sense.

But it does not make sense to be able to dictate how a company invests its capital.