My point was that is that even without any economic growth stock indexes grow quickly because they are cumulative (that is include profits of companies by either dividend paid or stock buybacks). Some indexes are not fully cumulative but they are still close enough because companies often prefer buybacks to dividends these days (for good reasons).

▲

the_real_cher 3 days ago | parent [-]

Stonks always go up.

	▲	bluecalm 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		They do in expectations of course. It's like saying "overall businesses make money and money accumulates over the years". You are rewarded for not spending your money right now. Taking some risks (risk premium over risk free rate) and not being an idiot (keeping your money in a bank or mattress or whatever). Market puts price on that reward. Unless you believe market is completely wrong about everything then yes - stonks will go up. Sometimes I feel the reason for many political views presented on HN is misunderstanding of very basic of finance and economy. The whole discussion here that started with absolutely nonsense comparison (stonks go up faster than wages) is one example of that.