My comment was more about popular mindset than specific policy solutions. I was trying to say that maybe reinvestment is not always an unquestionably good/best thing.

> As for forcing companies to pay dividends, I’d rather the government not be able to tell me what to do with my company’s funds

I don't want to digress too much, but limited liability corporation and more complex structures with shareholders are creations of the government. You used to have to obtain a specific charter from the sovereign for each one of them. So unless you're an individual doing business with unlimited liability, it's debatable whether government (or the lawgiver, to be more specific) shouldn't get to make the rules for you.

The government can make rules, but I don’t see why it has to do with how a company chooses to spend money. If the government wants more funds, then increase the taxes. Government can remove deductions for business expenses, raise tax rates, etc. But there’s no reason for government to tell a company what to do with its excess cash.

The corporation is a creation of the state. The state has obligations to humans, not to corporations. If the lives of humans to whom the state is obligated would be improved by any number of onerous requirements imposed on corporations, the state certainly should impose those onerous requirements.

Of course, the idea that states are created for the benefit of humans is bullshit, but it's nice to dream of something better...

> If the lives of humans to whom the state is obligated would be improved by any number of onerous requirements imposed on corporations, the state certainly should impose those onerous requirements.

I agree with this. Which is why I wrote the state can choose to increase taxes. I have yet to be shown how requiring a company to pay dividends accomplishes the goal of improving the lives of humans.

Dividends are taxable, and they're often paid to entities that are unable to structure "profits" as carefully as the largest corporations can. So, in this discussion in which everyone (even Jeff B!) seems to agree that more taxes should be collected, dividend requirements would be a way to do that.

Of course, that's too tame. We'd be better off eliminating the most common forms of incorporation, or severely curtailing them e.g. maximum revenue limits. All the things that corporations can do, individuals, partnerships, mutual-benefit firms, etc. can also do, except often more carefully.