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United States President Donald Trump has issued a strong warning to US defence contractors and announced steps to restrict large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, highlighting major policy directions through a social media post.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump cautioned all US defence contractors and the defence industry as a whole against what he described as excessive dividends, massive stock buybacks, and exorbitant executive compensation. He said these practices were being carried out at the expense of investment in new plants, modern equipment, and faster production of critical military hardware. Trump said that US defence companies are failing to deliver equipment rapidly enough to the US military and its allies. He also flagged serious concerns over the slow maintenance and repair of equipment once it is delivered, calling the situation unacceptable. In a social media post, he said "Defense Contractors are currently issuing massive Dividends to their Shareholders and massive Stock Buybacks, at the expense and detriment of investing in Plants and Equipment. This situation will no longer be allowed or tolerated! Also, Executive Pay Packages in the Defense Industry are exorbitant and unjustifiable given how slowly these Companies are delivering vital Equipment to our Military, and our Allies. Salaries, Stock Options, and every other form of Compensation are far too high for these Executives". From now on, Trump said defence executives must focus on building new and modern production facilities for manufacturing and maintaining existing equipment and also added that no defence industry executive should be allowed to earn more than 5 million US dollars annually, including salaries, stock options, and other compensation. The US President further announced that dividends and stock buybacks by defence companies would not be permitted until companies improve production speed, maintenance quality, and investment in infrastructure. Separately, Trump also addressed on housing affordability, stating that owning a home, once central to the American Dream, has become increasingly difficult due to record-high inflation under the previous administration. He announced immediate steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes and said he would urge Congress to codify the move into law. He said "that I am immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes, and I will be calling on Congress to codify it. People live in homes, not corporations". Trump also added that he will share further housing and affordability proposals during his upcoming speech in Davos in two weeks. (ANI)
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