As a shareholder I want my money to be managed in a way that maximizes my investment. When executives incentives are paid by the value of the stock at a particular frozen moment in time, I get cheated. I get cheated because a buy back at the moment that the CEO and the board grade themselves is not in best long term interest of my wealth. I don't have time to be buying a selling stock everyday, they're fucking me by playing games. Money should be spent on research and development. That way GM and IBM dont become kodak, Walmart doesnt become Sears, and the great GE doesn't become...well GE is already there. Established american companies will grow from buy backs and mergers until they get disrupted because they didn't invest.