Capital is too precious to shortchange the runup process

摘要

Nothing has attracted more controversy in the integrated steel industry than capital spending-or the lack of it in the depression years of 1980 to 2000. There was no shortage of self-proclaimed experts diagnosing the problem-Foreign steel companies and their agents were always available to the press, explaining that poor financial performance by the integrated producers was simply due to a lack of capital investment; and, of course, it wasn't related to import volumes and prices. Some security analysts and some journalists accepted these arguments and added their voices to the critical chorus. This was a little like telling a blind man he would be happier if he had eyesight. Academic critics suggested that these companies should have stopped paying dividends sooner than they did to conserve cash. In fact, the companies hadn't paid dividends for years, were loaded with debt and had been unable to sell equity in modern times.