Dear John,

I nearly spat out my coffee when I saw Apple announce the biggest stock buyback in history -- $110 billion!

It’s pretty easy to see why the biggest companies run by the richest CEOs have spent literally billions on stock buybacks. The math is simple: It’s a win/win for corporate greed.

Since the Trump Tax Scam passed in 2017, companies have been artificially boosting the value of their shares by spending hundreds of millions, and in some cases even billions, on repurchasing their own stock -- the practice known as stock buybacks.

It’s easy for eyes to glaze over when you start talking about stock buybacks because most Americans don’t even own any stock. The problem is corporate America, and especially ultra-rich CEOs, use our lack of interest to rig the system against us.

So, here’s three quick reasons to care:

• Stock buybacks hurt workers and consumers, because every dollar a company spends on repurchasing its own stocks is not going toward wages, equipment, safety, or quality improvement.

• Corporate executives and ultra-wealthy shareholders benefit the most -- by far. That’s because most executive pay is linked to the value of the stock, and more than half of all corporate stock is owned by the wealthiest 1%.

• Stock buybacks put critical government spending, like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, at risk. Most billionaire executives and ultra-rich investors never pay taxes on their stock gains because they never cash them out. It essentially becomes tax-free money for CEOs and the top 1%, while taxpayers pick up the tab for critical human needs.

No wonder stock buybacks were illegal in the pre-Reagan era.

Fortunately, Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown and Ron Wyden have introduced the Stock Buyback Accountability Act, which would increase the stock buybacks tax to 4%. Not only would this help ensure corporations pay their fair share of taxes, but it would also significantly discourage the practice, while encouraging investments in workers, wages, and innovation.

Send a direct message urging your senators to pass the Stock Buyback Accountability Act now. Sign and send a pre-written letter, or you can customize it to make it your own.

The buybacks trend is taking over every industry, from Big Tech to Big Oil and beyond.

Apple is the grand behemoth of the buybacks world, holding the record for 6 of the Top 10 largest stock buybacks ever. Its massive new buyback will bring the total it’s spent on buybacks over the last decade to over $700 billion. Imagine if Apple had spent that money making its products better, or cheaper, or treating its workers fairly -- or all three!

Google is a distant second with 3 of the biggest stock buybacks.

Exxon’s record $56 billion in profits in 2022 funded $15 billion in buybacks that year. Chevron spent $75 billion on buybacks, with $35 billion that year in profits.

Over the past ten years, Starbucks has bought back over $30 billion of their own stock, and General Electric, over $50 billion. Home Depot’s repurchase bonanza for the same period came to $75 billion.

Meanwhile, worker wages largely remained stagnant, investments in innovation were delayed, and corporations, billionaire CEOs, and ultra-rich shareholders were never forced to pay what they owe in taxes -- while some in Congress have used the lack of tax revenue as a cudgel for cuts to critical programs like Social Security and Medicare.

It’s time to force corporations to re-examine their priorities. Tell your senators to pass the Stock Buyback Accountability Act today!

Thank you for working to end the excessive use of stock buybacks and stop fueling corporate greed at the expense of workers.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action