NPR.

In early January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening bans on defense contractors paying dividends or buying their stock back.

This is yet another tightening of

the grip on markets that we've seen under President Trump. Yeah, like the U.S. government's

not investing in rare earth minerals companies. It's taken a quote-unquote golden share in U.S.

steel. Quite a change from the last few decades. So to explain this executive order, dividends are the classic way that

companies send a slice of profits to investors. And stock buybacks do a similar thing, but through a

different mechanism. The company itself purchases shares of its own company. That means that

whoever still holds on to the remaining shares is now holding onto a higher

percentage of the company. So it raises the value of them. Trump basically wants to restrict

defense companies from rewarding their shareholders at the expense of investing in new factories.

Is this normal? No, no, not at all for private companies. That's why I think there's a question.

Are we nationalizing the defense industry?

Stacey Petty John is a director at the Center for a New American Security, a defense think tank.

And that question is fascinating. Is the government starting to take over decisions that have traditionally been made by the private sector?

This is the indicator from Planet Money.

I'm Daryon Woods.

And I'm Stephen Besaha.

Today on the show, possible bans on defense dividends and stock buybacks.

We learn why the White House is so frustrated and talk to a defense investor about how

they're reacting.

In the American War toolkit, the Tomahawk missile is like a Ford F-150 pickup truck.

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