m not one to endorse any sort of minimum wage for the reasons cited in the article, I do believe the corporate tax system needs to be examined.
I've worked for public companies nearly my entire adult life and have seen executives make far too many decisions simply for the benefit of Wall Street - reducing marketing, restricting training, moving production to other countries, etc. When you see a major company take a huge hit, I'm comfortable saying most times it's because they've pushed off for years activities that would offer less but more sustainable growth. Wall Street can think in 90 day increments, companies should not.
I'm not in favor of taking or restricting companies from stock buybacks and other activities, preferring instead to incentivize companies to take a certain course of action; choice over penalty. On a personal level, it's like getting a lower insurance premium because one doesn't smoke or maintains a better weight. It's not a direct penalty but instead an incentive to take a specific action. For businesses, that could mean improved deductibility for employee pay, training, retention, etc. Instead of stock buy backs, perhaps improved deductibility for lower insurance premiums or higher 401K or pension plan contributions.
Just some thoughts. It was an interesting article. I'd much rather see congress debating this sort of stuff than climate change, russia and the wall.