I think one of the big problems is that most people's retirement money gets pumped into the stock market to purchase shares on the SECONDARY market. When people buy shares on the secondary market, companies never see any of that money. But when companies sell shares directly to the public through the primary capital markets, that money can be invested to produce NEW goods and services which create economic GROWTH. The whole point of a stock market is for companies to raise money from the public to produce new goods and services and generate economic growth, but in reality companies are doing very little of this. In fact, they often do the OPPOSITE! Instead of raising capital by issuing new shares, companies burn their earnings buying back existing shares from the public. It's insane! Economists in the future will look back in amazement and wonder how we could have possibly been so stupid.