For a wide range of economic situations it is true. Ignoring theft and other edge cases where the system breaks down the fact that Google's founders made a ridiculous amount of money directly relates to the value they created. Do you really think they would have created more value for humanity at larges as kindergarten teachers?

There are many ways that this breaks down. In a world of finite resources Money provides a feedback loop which says "repairing and selling car X is worth it but nobody will buy car Y so it's not worth repairing." It also says becoming a Dentist has more value than a Plumber and Poor artists should find something that creates more value.

PS: Conceder that the world is not filled with identical copies of you. Individuals have different values, goals, talents, and resources. Finding the best way to utilize humanity and its resources is a ridiculously complex problem, but the act of buying / biding on what you want communicates your desires. It also bribes people into doing things that they don't want to do because they can then get other people to do things that they want.

I made a number of points in my diatribe, and the only one that was responded to was the implication that some people are more concerned about hoarding cash. Among my first points was an example of the value of volunteerism that many on HN should find relevant.

Frankly, I find the notion that money is the only indicator of social value not only despicable, but fundamentally wrong in the context of economics. I also think that there are so many utterly obvious counter-examples in so many industries and in so many areas of the world that anyone who still holds this view could not possibly be convinced otherwise. So, I don't see any point in continuing this conversation.