Companies could’ve stopped doing stock buybacks and instead invested. But that doesn’t raise the stock value.

Look at the airline industry: They spent billions on stock buybacks and are now complaining of having no money.

Exactly this. It's a self-fulfilling law, and unfortunately, the plebs suffer. Only for the government "saviors" to swoop in to save the day whilst at the same time blaming "capitalism" because it failed to stockpile enough demand without any way to recoup the costs.

>But when a retailer knows they can't raise prices during any emergency, they can't justify investment to prepare for the next emergency.

None of the preparations for an emergency involve allowing front-line retailers to hoard resources and fleece people on them. Inventory space isn't the main issue here, and that's the only investment front-line retail has to make. This take is completely divorced from reality.