The reputation of the US Securities Exchange Commission as the defender of investors’ interests was severely damaged in the Crash of 2008. First, there was the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme where the SEC completely dropped the ball. Then there was the safe harbor granted by SEC Rule 10b-18 to corporate stock manipulators in the buyback scheme […]

On September 17, 2020, Capital Flow Watch called the top of the Buyback Bubble, issuing a warning that stock prices might be in for a sharp fall. Unfortunately, that comment turned out to be correct. The outlook considered two simple facts: Stock prices are supported by equity buybacks, which, in turn, now […]

As expected, the Pandora’s box called the “Pension Protection Act of 2006” is full of nasty surprises. The Wall Street Journal (October 25, 2020) reported that the new “Pension Law Shrinks Lump-Sum Payments” to workers. See: New Pension Laws Will Alter Capital Flows Here is how Congress managed to cheat American workers: Under the old law, when […]