The S&P 500 pays out over a trillion dollars each year in dividends and stock buybacks funded by the profits of their productive economic activity. This is wha

The S&P 500 pays out over a trillion dollars each year in dividends and stock buybacks funded by the profits of their productive economic activity. This is what you are investing in when you buy a stock. The numbers-go-up of the stock market is both directly (through stock buybacks) and indirectly (through expectations of future dividends) a consequence of this productive activity, not just greater fools.