There has been a good deal of talk lately about "stock buybacks." This is because, if I understand the situation, the Republicans want to give money to various businesses to get them through the coronavirus problem. The Democrats respond, NOT "subsidies are wrong in principle" (given the history, that seems an unlikely position for them to take, though these days anything is possible) -- rather their response is "we'll go along with the bail-outs to your buddies, so long as various strings are attached which we can pretend are pro-worker strings." I just want to say that on this point the Republicans have a case. Let's not talk or act as if there's never a good reason for a company to buy its stock back. Example: a management may have a good faith belief that its stock is undervalued by the market, and thus due for an upswing. It may also face a situation in which, before that upswing can happen, it faces a takeover threat from a corpor...
