Your salary hasn't kept up with the cost of everything else, but your CEO just got a $50 million bonus. Stock buybacks hit record highs while R&D budgets get slashed. In this episode, Emma Reid reveals how corporate America traded building the future for gaming quarterly earnings reports.
🎯 What You'll Learn:
• Why American companies are sitting on $14 trillion in debt while executives get richer
• The 1982 rule change that made stock buybacks legal and changed capitalism forever
• How 95% of corporate profits now go to shareholders instead of growing the business
• The real reason your company "can't afford" raises but can afford stock repurchases
👤 Perfect for: lifelong learners and anyone who's ever wondered why their employer claims to be broke while buying back billions in stock.
📍 Chapters:
[00:00] Emma Reid introduces the great corporate flip
[01:30] The $14 trillion debt mountain no one talks about
[04:00] 1982: When stock manipulation became legal strategy
[07:00] Why your boss gets stock options but you get pizza parties
[10:00] The 95% rule killing American innovation
[12:00] What this means for your job and your investments
Companies used to build things that lasted decades. Now they build quarterly stock bumps. Emma breaks down exactly how executive pay structures turned CEOs into short-term stock price engineers instead of long-term business builders. You'll understand why your company keeps "restructuring" while competitors in other countries actually invest in their future.
This isn't just business theory. This affects your paycheck, your job security, and whether American companies can compete globally. Emma connects the dots between stock buybacks, wage stagnation, and why innovation happens everywhere except here.
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🔍 Topics: stock buybacks, executive compensation, corporate debt, long term planning, wage stagnation
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