Dow Jones Industrial Average

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average

It measures price-weighted average of stock prices (higher stocks weigh more). This has little to do with actual market volume, as it does not consider the amounts sold. So it's only a relative measure of a trend.

For example, study the value from 1980 over 40 years as it moves from 1000 to 30,000 [1]. Berkshire Hathaway stock is largest value, at $300k a share.

Going from 1000 to 30000 means little in terms of actual prosperity, as it does not count volume or its distribution (Gini Coefficient)).

30x increase does not mean that people are doing 30x better than in 1980. The Historical Index of Human Development went up from 0.6 to 0.8 in the USA, or 30%, not 30x.