Since Trump’s tax bill was passed, publicly traded corporations have announced $88 billion in share buybacks (twice the previous rate). Separately they have announced $2.5 billion in bonuses for employees. So basically, less than 3% of the benefits of the tax cuts were passed along to the employees, and 97% of the benefits are accruing to the 1%. Anyone surprised?
Further, around 40% of the stock market is owed by foreign entities, so a huge chunk of those buy-backs aren’t benefiting any US citizens.
Then there is the distribution of financial wealth (not net worth, just financial assets) in which the top 20% owns 93% of the financial assets in the US.
So take out the foreigners and the top 20%, and 80% of the US population gets to divide $3.7 of that $88 billion among their meager 401k’s. That’s about $12.84 per person. Yup, billionaires got hundreds of millions in tax breaks, millionaires got hundreds of thousands in tax breaks. Stocks soared. Companies bought back billions is stocks… and my 401k is estimated to increase an extra $12 over what it would have anyway. Why am I not cheering?
And the total keeps increasing. Buybacks are now at $178 billion.