Cory Booker aims to reignite stock-buyback fight on the campaign trail by re-introducing old bill

[BeyondGeography]

Sen. Cory Booker, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination next year, re-introduced a bill intended to curb the trend of corporate stock buybacks Thursday through a “worker dividend.”

Initially introduced in March 2018, the “Worker Dividend Act” requires firms to distribute the value of its stock buybacks dollar-for-dollar. That means if a company spends $300 million of its profits on share buybacks, it must spread at least an equivalent $300 million across its workforce equally.

“This legislation has a simple premise: when companies do well, workers should do well,” New Jersey’s Booker said in a news release. “There’s no reason that a country as rich and as powerful as ours should have to choose between great wealth for the few, like corporate executives and shareholders, and great opportunity for all of its citizens, including its workers.”

The bill accompanies other similar legislation from Democrats, like Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown’s own worker dividend bill introduced in July. Other 2020 Democratic candidates have joined the fray too in targeting the more than $1 trillion in buybacks stemming from President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts put forth a bill last summer requiring companies with over $1 billion in revenue to allow their workers to elect 40% of their board seats, while Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., along with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York proposed a measure that would apply “preconditions” on buybacks that would force companies to offer higher wages and better health benefits.

In the face of growing backlash against wealth inequality, Wall Street has signaled its willingness to shift away from their primary goal of increasing shareholder value too...

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/cory-booker-aims-to-reignite-stock-buyback-fight-on-2020-campaign-trail.html