Probably a great deal to do with the fact that savings accounts, bonds, and CDs don't return the interest rates they used to. They certainly don't beat inflation.

So what's left? Stocks. An index fund will at least keep pace with inflation over a long period of time.

It's not just "get rich quick"; it's that most of the other options have been devalued to uselessness over just stuffing cash into mattresses.

Except Buffett is not referring to index investing but to stock picking. Mostly it's long with leverage on a single stock.

Most likely Tesla, GME, AMC.. If it's not stocks then it's crypto.

And crypto has precisely zero value unless enough people believe it does. Less intrinsic value in fact than tulips.

It will not end well.