We saw this earlier this year, when a chap named Harry Wilson got the backing of four big investment firms to demand that General Motors give him a board seat and buy back $5 billion worth of stock. GM managed to stiff-arm his run at the board but caved in on the buyback, earning Mr. Wilson a big payout. Let me think a minute, how did this turn out for General Motors? Oh yeah, all the stock it bought back is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars less, thanks to the recent market correction. There's a lesson here. If you truly want to help shareholders, then give them that money directly in the form of dividends. Otherwise, stock buybacks just help those who want to dump your stock. Even more disappointing was that GM's biggest shareholders never said anything about this. Not a peep. The UAW's VEBA trust fund is the single biggest shareholder in General Motors. You'd think it would especially be opposed to Wall Street militants, but its silence was deafening.