One of the things that I think about with buybacks is sort of the 'second-degree' implications. The company is buying its equity, what are the parties selling doing with the money?

And so you delve into a subjective area. Part of me feels that there is a literal 'passing of the buck' where the company sort of dilutes and distributes sort of, societal investment responsibility, which is where even my own philosophy solicits an internal eyeroll.

The problem I have with buybacks is that I agree it is frequently a signal that 'a company has no uses for a bunch of cash on hand'. But does society suffer when businesses are so wed to capital efficiency? Does society benefit from corporate investment, period? Are earnest investments beneficial to society even if they don't work out?

Basically, how does the money distributed from buybacks impact society, and could that be improved?