Seems nowadays there's a massive hostile sentiment towards stockholders in general, who are identified with the 1%. How wages have been suppressed for decades now in favor of stock returns, leaving the average Joe worse off than before while the rich profit off of their capital gains.

What doesn't make sense here is this unconscious, seemingly widely held belief that only this group gets to profit from the system. There is nothing stopping the average Joe from investing a small part of his money, matching his 401k, and profiting off the very same system he claims oppresses him, negating it's harmful effects.

In Common Sense on Mutual Funds, I remember John Bogle said something to the effect of investing a mere $50 a week over 40 years will make you a millionaire by retirement age. And indeed, if we look at a compound interest calculator https://www.nerdwallet.com/calculator/compound-interest-calculator investing $200 a month with 10% returns (not accounting for 4% rule) you'd end up with $1,264,869. For the average middle-class worker this is not a huge expense. It's one less order of takeout in a week. It sounds to me that this system is immensely beneficial for the working-class.

And people will say they "can't afford it". The same people I see driving around the newest model cars with $800/mo. payments hanging over their heads. Or taking out mortgages at silly rates for bigger houses than they need. Even when I was poverty-stricken, eating rice and beans everyday I could afford to invest $50 a week.

My general point is that it seems people like blaming the system for their reduced spending power/QoL while also completely failing to take advantage of it's frankly miraculous economic benefits.