I'm coming to agree with part of your point but just for the sake of constructive criticism your tone is off-putting, and probably the source of most of your do

I'm coming to agree with part of your point but just for the sake of constructive criticism your tone is off-putting, and probably the source of most of your downvotes. Also, I don't agree that distributing equity of the company that employees have worked for is a hand-out; rather, it IS teaching you to fish: you now have ownership of the company, and are more inclined to learn the implications and your interests are more directly aligned with the company. Rather than being incentivized to do the least work possible without getting fired (not saying that that is what most workers do, just that it is what a no-equity position incentivizes at least in the short-medium term), the interests of the employees are now directly aligned with the company. I fail to see how that's a bad thing.