reality exposes all ideologies in the end -- and that's happening now to the shareholder-first movement, a faith that that has dominated US capitalism for decades, and whose main article is that companies must pay out all cash to shareholders.

the pandemic has revealed that many companies had almost nothing to fall back on when the crunch came. the companies' trade groups rushed to the white house for huge bail outs.

what could they have done instead, you ask? first, not spend every cent they made (and more) on buybacks and dividends. why not reduce those payouts just a bit? why not do what banks are forced to do -- and keep something in reserve?

think how many franchisees large restaurant chains could be supporting right now if they had not spent many many billions trying to get their stock prices higher. instead, those franchisees have to try and get what they can from the PPP.

second, why rush to the government? why not first go to your shareholders and ask them for new funds to get through the crisis? after all, companies paid out huge sums to them in recent years (over $50 billion at Boeing!)

well, you can't sell shares in a down market, you say. well, some have. dave & buster's, reeling from the pandemic, has done that. why not others?

@FlitterOnFraud and I look at how we got here and the sheer scale of the ask. loads of eye-popping numbers in the piece. and, no, i don't really expect this faith to die. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/business/coronavirus-bailouts-buybacks-cash.html?referringSource=articleShare

and I am here to debate the piece and this subject with anyone who argues in good faith and is not hiding behind anonymity. please tweet me your objections and critiques.