The Virtues of Stock Buybacks

Source: Wall Street Journal.

The writers lament that stock buybacks are misunderstood and unfairly criticized. Also, the new tax on stock repurchasing will harm shareholders and the economy.

Stock buybacks are a topic I have never learned anything about. As an investor who has sold parts of my portfolio from time to time, I just assumed that companies repurchasing their own shares merely added to the number of buyers that made it easier for me to sell what I wanted to sell. I found a helpful explainer in Forbes that presents a more sophisticated view of the topic.

Continue reading “The Virtues of Stock Buybacks” →

The President Needs the Power to Fire Bureaucrats

Source: Wall Street Journal.

I have long been an advocate of Civil Service accountability, as is the writer of this story.

Although he doesn’t mention it, I believe the Senior Executive Service within the Civil Service would be an appropriate focal point for accountability reforms. According to Wikipedia, SES personnel serve “in key positions just below the top presidential appointees as a link between them and the rest of the federal (civil service) workforce.” Thus, they are the people who mentor the political appointees in the operations of the bureaucracies they head, as well as having the authority to compel proper, non-partisan performance within the agencies they serve.

End of the Republic

Source: Frontpage Mag.

The writer’s prediction that the republic has ended strikes me as premature, but his substantive analysis will no doubt resonate with many Americans. How, for example, are the powers that be going to square their lack of concern over Hillary Clinton’s improper possession of classified documents with ordering the FBI to raid Donald Trump’s home for the same alleged offense?

I expect the classified documents question will turn out to be a tempest in a teapot. I’ll be watching to see whether it turns into something real, or whether kabuki politics has truly become the last reality of our system.

An Outstanding Historian Lost

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pulitzer-winning-author-david-mccullough-dies-at-89?ref=home

David McCullough wrote some amazing historical pieces. If you haven’t read The Great Bridge, about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, I highly recommend it. You need to be stuck inside for about a month to get through it, but it is fascinating in it’s detail and story telling.

Also 1776, one of the first history books a I read as an adult, and his historical telling of The Wright Brothers, were books I found to be quite enjoyable. I have not read his John Adams or Harry Truman biographies, but I may have to do so.

I know some of us have a hard time agreeing with each other on things, but I’m optimistic there will be little push back on this. (But I could be wrong. 😇)