The Rule Making Manipulation Mandatory 📉💼

In 1982, the SEC implemented Rule 10b-18, a move that fundamentally altered the American economic landscape. Before this change, stock buybacks were legally classified as market manipulation—a criminal act that could lead to prison time. By providing a 'safe harbor' for companies to repurchase their own shares, the SEC effectively legalized a way for corporations to artificially inflate their stock prices. This mechanism allows CEOs to divert company profits, which could have been used for worker raises or innovation, directly into share buybacks that trigger massive executive bonuses. Today, trillions of dollars are siphoned away from the labor force to sustain these artificial market highs. It is not a failure of the system, but a deliberately engineered strategy to prioritize shareholder wealth over the people who actually do the work.