this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
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As Adam Smith observed, the profits of stock are inversely proportional to the wages of labor. When capitalists are profiting, you're suffering.
The US was able to see capitalists profit and workers have high wages when they had abundant access to stolen resources from the Native Americans. When there are vast opportunities, everyone can win. After that expansion period ends, the capitalists and workers compete for scarce power in society.
Industrialization and technological advancements are similarly able to realize benefits for all, but that boon will always end. Like how ecoli bacteria can only replicate exponentially for brief periods, spending most of their existence in relative starvation, we can't all benefit.
The stock market booming is antithetical to worker wellbeing without corresponding leaps forward in our use of resources, or by taking resources from elsewhere. Stocks going up is bad unless it can be justified.