No one here said anything to the contrary.

> solve [...], otherwise everything will keep going up

This implies that markets going up is a problem that needs to be solved.

Market going up when the economy is going down IS a problem because when it crashes it will amplify the problem ten fold.

Do you have any data to back up that assertion?

That used to be case when you had to clear certain hurdles to IPO and stay listed. With the recent SPAC craze you no longer have to meet any of those. All you need is a credible narrative. In that environment, no, you shouldn’t expect stocks to have positive returns. Long-term positive return in stocks is purely a function of required rate of _cash_ return. But if an underlying business is never meant to ever distribute cash back to investors, the stock is worth exactly ZERO. In other words a ponzi scheme.

You shouldn’t expect EVERY stock to have positive returns. Unless the bad stocks to which you're referring become a considerable part of the market, you should still expect stocks, on average, to earn you real interest.