Tag: hal varian
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We Need to Spur Business Investment. Yeah, Right.
Comes before the court: Floyd Norris to point out that the heady dividends delivered by corporations 2004-2008 were in many cases not profits, but recycled loans. They borrowed the money, then paid it out to shareholders. Every penny in profits ($2.4 trillion) went out in dividends ($.9 trillion) and stock buybacks ($1.7 trillion), plus another…