I think the reality with the stock market seems to be that eventually the tax payer is left with the bags whether they owned any stocks themselves or not.

Sure. People should be pissed about bailouts using tax payer money.

So what was done was regulations were put in that forced brokers to limit risk. So RH followed those regulations and now people are pissed.

The math didn't add when they said that they were already covered. They were lying about the position they hold.

This zero sum claim is intellectually on a level with the flat earth claim, how on this (flat) earth do people still fall for it?!

Its not 0 sum

It's zero sum the way a poker table in Vegas is zero sum. Every dollar won is a dollar lost by someone else. Meanwhile, the casino takes their rake.

This isn’t always true though. If I buy an equity for 10$ and sell it to you for 11$ who then sells it for 13$ none of us have lost money. Only panic sells and crashes are zero sum in the way you are imagining.

Eh - the poker table doesn't have a concept of dividends. (A free drink or two not withstanding)