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$152 billion in stock buybacks. We don't have an economy anymore, we are just handing money to the ultra-wealthy. US. Total economic collapse. Hard landing. T

$152 billion in stock buybacks. We don't have an economy anymore, we are just handing money to the ultra-wealthy. US. Total economic collapse. Hard landing. This is the beginning of the end. We really had the chance to make something beautiful with this country, but the 1% bought and sold it into the ground. Half our politicians aren't even trying to keep it running anymore.

ProllyInfamous 2y ago
Heck, our politicians are at the point where they're taking their bribes in pure gold (see NJ's recent senatorial shame). A good friend of mine is the son of a former hedgefund manager... who told me in 2018 "owning real gold is foolish;" in 2024, he's recently told me about his expanding gold collection. I have made even more returns on silver/BTC, but anything "real" is probably durable enough to last for (hopefully at least) another decade of keep kicking the can down the road... Quoting my favorite family member of The Silent Generation (pre WW2 birth), "Nobody wants to be the last one at the party, because then you have to help clean up all the mess!"
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  to make sure I understand this: is this the rich getting ready for the collapse of the USD?
  - ProllyInfamous 2y ago
    >getting ready for the collapse of the USD? It's happening, real-time. Yes. All "trickling up," exactly as-designed: into more-durable asset classes, largely unaffordable to Joe American. Just for reference, a troy pound of gold currently trades for around $30,000; whereas in 1970 the same mass was, officially, $420. e.g. Multiple OPEC countries trading oil in non-USD transactions (against policies to only do so, set since early 1970s). e.g. 2020, largest publicly-traded company was a state-run oil extractor (Aramco), worth barely only $2 trillion [two million million dollars]; 2024 (so far) there were THREE $3T+ marketcaps, each a massively-inflated evaluation; bitcoin is more-stable & more-valuable than most tech stocks e.g. #100 publicly-traded asset (by market cap), in 2020, was worth approximately $110B; #100, in 2024, is worth approximately $155B Never forget that Nixon prosmised, just as countless other politicians are trained to do: that this suffering is only TEMPORARY. They're technically not incorrect, when temporal definitions are left undefined.
wwtrv 2y ago
Stock buybacks are basically just more flexible dividends. Companies used to payout way more in dividends in the past now they do buybacks instead.
s1artibartfast 2y ago
They should have done more buybacks so it could be used for something productive. All of the money left in the company is going to be wasted as it rots from the inside. The company didn't die of starvation, it died of obesity.
- bgnn 2y ago
  This is happening while Intel is begging for government monry to fund its new fabs. what about they don't get taxpayer money?
  - s1artibartfast 2y ago
    Im not sure who was begging who, but as long as they build the fabs they are being paid to build, they should get the money. If they dont build the fabs, they shouldn't get the money for them. Seems pretty clear to me.
jaredklewis 2y ago
Why would anyone buy stocks if companies didn't do buybacks or issue dividends? The whole purpose of stocks is to be financially rewarded for investing capital. Like if you just don't like stock markets or capitalism in general, that's fine, but that doesn't have anything to do with stock buybacks.
- honkycat 2y ago
  my issue with stock buybacks is that clearly corners were cut elsewhere while the company was hollowed out. And they get away with it because Uncle Sam is just going to show up with a new check next year. Same with Boeing. Miserable failure of a company, somehow found room to hand the owners massive amounts of money, meanwhile they have massive quality issues.
shlant 2y ago
I hate that I can't tell if this is satire
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  If you believe it to be satire, you haven’t been paying attention to the data.

ProllyInfamous 2y ago

Heck, our politicians are at the point where they're taking their bribes in pure gold (see NJ's recent senatorial shame). A good friend of mine is the son of a former hedgefund manager... who told me in 2018 "owning real gold is foolish;" in 2024, he's recently told me about his expanding gold collection. I have made even more returns on silver/BTC, but anything "real" is probably durable enough to last for (hopefully at least) another decade of keep kicking the can down the road... Quoting my favorite family member of The Silent Generation (pre WW2 birth), "Nobody wants to be the last one at the party, because then you have to help clean up all the mess!"

johnnyanmac 2y ago
to make sure I understand this: is this the rich getting ready for the collapse of the USD?
- ProllyInfamous 2y ago
  >getting ready for the collapse of the USD? It's happening, real-time. Yes. All "trickling up," exactly as-designed: into more-durable asset classes, largely unaffordable to Joe American. Just for reference, a troy pound of gold currently trades for around $30,000; whereas in 1970 the same mass was, officially, $420. e.g. Multiple OPEC countries trading oil in non-USD transactions (against policies to only do so, set since early 1970s). e.g. 2020, largest publicly-traded company was a state-run oil extractor (Aramco), worth barely only $2 trillion [two million million dollars]; 2024 (so far) there were THREE $3T+ marketcaps, each a massively-inflated evaluation; bitcoin is more-stable & more-valuable than most tech stocks e.g. #100 publicly-traded asset (by market cap), in 2020, was worth approximately $110B; #100, in 2024, is worth approximately $155B Never forget that Nixon prosmised, just as countless other politicians are trained to do: that this suffering is only TEMPORARY. They're technically not incorrect, when temporal definitions are left undefined.

wwtrv 2y ago

Stock buybacks are basically just more flexible dividends. Companies used to payout way more in dividends in the past now they do buybacks instead.

s1artibartfast 2y ago

They should have done more buybacks so it could be used for something productive. All of the money left in the company is going to be wasted as it rots from the inside. The company didn't die of starvation, it died of obesity.

bgnn 2y ago
This is happening while Intel is begging for government monry to fund its new fabs. what about they don't get taxpayer money?
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  Im not sure who was begging who, but as long as they build the fabs they are being paid to build, they should get the money. If they dont build the fabs, they shouldn't get the money for them. Seems pretty clear to me.

jaredklewis 2y ago

Why would anyone buy stocks if companies didn't do buybacks or issue dividends? The whole purpose of stocks is to be financially rewarded for investing capital. Like if you just don't like stock markets or capitalism in general, that's fine, but that doesn't have anything to do with stock buybacks.

honkycat 2y ago
my issue with stock buybacks is that clearly corners were cut elsewhere while the company was hollowed out. And they get away with it because Uncle Sam is just going to show up with a new check next year. Same with Boeing. Miserable failure of a company, somehow found room to hand the owners massive amounts of money, meanwhile they have massive quality issues.

shlant 2y ago

I hate that I can't tell if this is satire

toomuchtodo 2y ago
If you believe it to be satire, you haven’t been paying attention to the data.