[i_cant_speel]

I listened to that podcast when it got rebroadcasted. Even the people who are in charge of the Dow admit it's not a great tool for measuring the economy. They don't change it because the only thing it has going for it is the fact that the algorithm has been around for over a century. If they changed it, they wouldn't gain much and they would lose the only thing it has going for it, which is its standing as the oldest economic measurement used today.

[acchow]

Also, the stock market isn't the economy.

[ryandrake]

THANK YOU for pointing this out.

The stock market is not the economy. Stocks going up is not objectively good, and stocks going down is not objectively bad. Same for housing prices and cost of living.

When the pie grows, often the result is I have a shrinking portion of it.

[seanp2k2]

Yes, true, but unfortunately for all of us who don't have our billions yet, many of those making policy decisions have a thumb or three in that pie and much of their wealth tied to it. What I've learned is that you can either be part of the "tide which lifts all ships" or be drowned by it. TL;DR get some index funds :)

[WorldMaker]

Don't forget too that 401(k)s force your hand to care about the stock market to get any sort of retirement in the modern era.