Will there be a rush to pay dividends before the election?

[gulliver]

Microsoft is paying a record one time dividend. Will others follow? I'm just wondering if executives are worried about losing the special treatment for dividend income (15% rate) and are rushing to funnel money out of their companies and, as major stockholders, into their own hands. Is this just a way for executives to give themselves a low tax bonus?

[lapfog_1]

1. Most companies don't have the earnings or the cash reserves

of M$, despite the record $3/share payout, if earning stay on par
with the last quarter, M$ will make back all of that money in just
3 years. And what else can they do with it? Bill doesn't want M$
to be another conglomerate, and he can't really buy $20 B of high
tech companies (who would he buy, and how could it pass the smell
test of monopoly?). M$ is a special case, I don't look for other
corporations to follow suit.

Further proof (along with the security issues surrounding Winblows
and IE) that the justice department screwed up and should have broken
M$ into 3 companies (OS, browser, office suite) or maybe more.