It's Time to Fix the Stock Buyback "Con Game"

Stock buybacks have hit record levels - but what's driving the growth is dangerous for you and our economy. Total stock buybacks for 2014 amounted to $696 billion, or 4% of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), according to Research Affiliates. That's a lot spent on a practice that used to be tightly regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission because it was considered manipulative. You see, even though they're common now, buybacks are manipulative. They make sense for some companies, but now they're often used to inflate stock prices - and make executives rich. In fact, most of today's stock buybacks are not only unproductive for the long-term health of corporations, but destructive in terms of economic growth. Here's how bad the stock buyback "con game" has become - and how we can fix it... Tags: stock buyback , stock buybacks , stock buybacks are bad , stock buybacks are good To get full access to all Money Morning content, click here About Money Morning: Money Morning gives you access to a team of ten market experts with more than 250 years of combined investing experience – for free . Our experts – who have appeared on FOXBusiness, CNBC, NPR, and BloombergTV – deliver daily investing tips and stock picks, provide analysis with actions to take, and answer your biggest market questions. Our goal is to help our millions of e-newsletter subscribers and Moneymorning.com visitors become smarter, more confident investors. Disclaimer: © 2015 Money Morning and Money Map Press. All Rights Reserved. Protected by copyright of the United States and international treaties. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including the world wide web), of content from this webpage, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Money Morning. 16 W. Madison St. Baltimore, MD, 21201. The post It's Time to Fix the Stock Buyback "Con Game" appeared first on Money Morning - We Make Investing Profitable .