I wrestled all day yesterday with the subject of corporate share buybacks. Are they “good”? Are they “bad”? What does that even mean? You can spin yourself in circles debating the impact on share prices, companies and shareholders. And then I came across the chart below.

To state the extremely obvious – the thing that bankrupts companies are not share prices going to zero – it’s not being able to pay your debt. Executing buybacks and not paying down corporate debt may jack earnings per share but if the economy is truly slowing – the debt level chart is what is gonna bite us and scares me most.

Paying down debt isn’t fun. Or sexy. But you have to eventually – don’t you?