Americans can always trust Congress to blast away at symptoms when there is an actual disease to be cured — and such is the case with the forthcoming assault on stock buybacks.

Make no mistake about it: the modern use of stock buybacks by America’s large public corporations is a problem. As Bill Lazonick argues convincingly in his definitive 2014 article on the subject, “Profits Without Prosperity”, when corporations spend trillions on buying their own stock, it shortchanges the long-term investments — like in R&D and talent — that spur broader economic growth.