A bunch of assholes in offices (edit: and a handful of C-suite above them of course) got rich on RSUs at the expense of the entire rest of the economy. The factory shut down and all those workers are getting screwed driving for some gig service or order picking for ecommerce or whatever.
Number go up only matters if the number going up is strongly associated with things getting better.
And it didn't even necessarily get better for the asshole in the office. A few of them won but most of them can't afford to live within an hour of where he works, have a family, etc, etc.
The 2-3%/year economic growth that has been common since the 1980s. People getting rich is nothing new. You can go back 50 years, 100 years, 150 years, etc. and find the same kind of debates.
The difference is that people work less than ever and obesity is now a sign of poverty rather than wealth. Depression era US had people actually starving. The relative wealth of the middle class in the sixties and seventies is something you might rightfully mourn a little. But even then, there was a lot of poverty.
This is the "but iPhones and avocado toast" argument.
Calories and consumer goods are cheaper than ever. Housing, education and healthcare are more expensive than they've ever been. There has been a marked decrease in the amount of personal and economic autonomy available to the middle class and below over the past 40yr. Look at how medium skill level workers lived in the 1980s. It's basically a foreign country compared to today.
Having a robot vacuum to smear your dog's shit all around doesn't actually make you wealthier if you can't afford a house for the dog to shit in and apartments don't allow dogs.
What people want is a comfortable and fulfilling life, both of which are assessed on a relative basis. The modern economy has given them a rat race and shitty highs and they know it. Happy pills don't make depressed people happy. They just make them not depressed.
What people want never existed. You always find people that want more. But the same apartment that currently houses a couple of people used to house entire families. And it wouldn't have had a lot of the comforts people take for granted these days.
A bunch of assholes in offices (edit: and a handful of C-suite above them of course) got rich on RSUs at the expense of the entire rest of the economy. The factory shut down and all those workers are getting screwed driving for some gig service or order picking for ecommerce or whatever.
Number go up only matters if the number going up is strongly associated with things getting better.
And it didn't even necessarily get better for the asshole in the office. A few of them won but most of them can't afford to live within an hour of where he works, have a family, etc, etc.
Whole lot of good it did us.