You are right about the general case (not everything is a ponzi) but you’re wrong about the example.
If you make money out of a piece of equity in Google, then somebody made that money but didn’t get it, either by buying the same amount of equity for more money then you, or by creating value through working at google but not getting that value paid in salary. This sounds like a ponzi with investors at the top of the pyramid and workers at the bottom.
A better example of something that isn’t a ponzi are taxes (or any common funds), you pay into a common fund that then is used to provide services and infrastructure that anyone can use for fun and profit. Another example is a traditional savings account. The bank (actually a credit union is an even more pristine example) holds on to your money while you are not using it, and lends it to people that need it, they will give you a small interest as compensation (part of the profit of that money) but also spend some of it to buy insurance so that you will never be at risk of actually loosing that money.
If you make money out of a piece of equity in Google, then somebody made that money but didn’t get it, either by buying the same amount of equity for more money then you, or by creating value through working at google but not getting that value paid in salary. This sounds like a ponzi with investors at the top of the pyramid and workers at the bottom.
A better example of something that isn’t a ponzi are taxes (or any common funds), you pay into a common fund that then is used to provide services and infrastructure that anyone can use for fun and profit. Another example is a traditional savings account. The bank (actually a credit union is an even more pristine example) holds on to your money while you are not using it, and lends it to people that need it, they will give you a small interest as compensation (part of the profit of that money) but also spend some of it to buy insurance so that you will never be at risk of actually loosing that money.