Bail out workers, not shareholders

By Sheila Bair (original source Yahoo Finance)

“The past decade has been good to corporate shareholders. Last year marked the longest bull market in history, with the S&P 500 rising 330% from its March 2009 low. And while those gains have taken a significant hit as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, shareholders had already locked in trillions in payouts from the market’s strong growth.

Indeed, in just the past three years, companies in the S&P 500 paid out dividends and buybacks (where a company uses its cash to purchase shares from shareholders) of over $3.5 trillion. Given the enormous challenges confronting many corporate sectors, it’s appropriate that shareholders, including executives, start giving back.

The stimulus bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last week includes about $500 billion in aid for big corporations impacted by COVID-19. Most of this money will be leveraged by the Federal Reserve, working with the U.S. Treasury Department, to support about $4 trillion in lending.”

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