Yes, it is.
What if the government gave them electricity?
That's a bill someone else has to make up for, not having to pay a bill is welfare, just like SNAP benefits.
May 17 2018
Companies are on track to plow a record $1 trillion into boosting dividends and buying back their own stock this year, says Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Buybacks are a strategy to boost stock prices – by reducing the number of shares outstanding, which artificially increases a company's earning per share. But they do little to improve the economy.
Companies in the S&P 500 have also increased dividend payments to shareholders 182 times so far this year, giving investors greater incentive to buy and hold their shares, according to Silverblatt.
- Apple – $100 billion
- Cisco – $25 billion
- Wells Fargo – $22.6 billion
- Pepsi – $15 billion
- AbbVie – $10 billion
- Amgen – $10 billion
- Google parent Alphabet – $8.6 billion
- Visa – $7.5 billion
- eBay – $6 billion