Anytime a company overextends itself financially, it's dangerous for the company and if lots of companies do it, the economy as a whole. Look at PG&E underinvesting in infrastructure while paying large dividends, it's the exact same problem. Companies have become micro-focused on short term returns for shareholders and lost track of longer term planning and building anti-fragilility into the company infrastructure.

Buybacks are one of the bigger ways businesses are doing this because buybacks have significant tax advantages versus dividends. (

So long as management can rely on low interest rates and government bailouts for big businesses, it's hard to argue it's even a management failure. It's a failure of our government to set the correct expectations and fiscal policy.