Reversing Runaway Inequality: Financialization

Citizen Action of New York will be releasing a series of short animated videos based on research and findings from Les Leopold’s 2015 book Runaway Inequality. This video provides a brief history of financialization in the United States and the growing popularity of stock buybacks.

[TCS]

Good stuff. If only it could run during half time of the Super Bowl

[rachelmortimer]

What were the sources you used for this video, I'd like to use them in an essay please

[ammanite]

Financialization is even worse than just stock buybacks. It made capital markets out of nearly everything in life, including homes/real estate, food/commodities, including water, utilities, healthcare and education.

Additionally, I would consider the derivatives market and various "exotic" asset classes, 401Ks, and investment schemes to be part of the financialization of our economies, as well deregulation and privatization.

All of these things started in the late 70s-early 80s (Neoliberalism/Reaganism) and culminated in Clinton's final deregulation of our banking system with the elimination of Glass-Stegal. Even stock buybacks were illegal prior to that, hence why only 2% or profits were used for that in 1981—which they should have mentioned.

[investimentolongo]

The reason why companies reward their shareholders by buying back their shares is to avoid a dividend payment that will be taxed in the current timeframe. Buybacks enable gains to compound tax-free until they are crystallized, as opposed to dividend payments that are taxed annually.


You try to distort reality to defend your point of view of how things should be.