>Banning buybacks will not automatically make that money flow into hiring or salaries.

Nope, but that's what trends show us from the decades between its ban and bans being lifted. All I know is that companies flowing money back into itself and having executives shift in and out every few years clearly hasn't worked.

It's just one stepping stone to make sure companies have skin in the game again.

You can argue dividends but that means the money gets taxed quicker, so that also helps the people.

>AI is now giving companies something to do with excess cash that could generate better returns

Sure, for now. I think that problem will fix itself sooner than later, so I'm not too concerned about that. Trends come and go.