Exchanging a dollar for a product means that I value the product more than the dollar. I didn't lose in this trade. Now, if I think the product is overpriced, in the current market I'd wait for it or a competitor's product to lower its price since prices tend to vary overtime. If the product comes from a monopoly, then you're doomed. Anyhow, the zero-sum game does not apply to the free market.

> Actually, that's exactly how it works: we can't both own the same dollar. Duh.

I’m guessing you’ve never taken an economics course. Or if you have, you didn’t understand it.

“Making the pie bigger” (growth) is a thing, and it’s a thing that happens quite frequently. “Getting a bigger share of the same size pie” (zero sum) leaves a lot of opportunity on the table.

Yet somehow there are more (real) dollars worth of stuff in the economy today than 20, 50, or 100 years ago.

No. But if both persons are productive then the Fed is more likely to inject another dollar or two into circulation.