it seems like that a big part of the global, especially the US economy is mostly financial engineering, passing money around and valuing things arbitrarily, propping up the GDP numbers while the real economy just keeps getting worse

I just don't know how this can last

Seems like obvious end result when incentives are there for it. Simply too much money around and funds which have to invest in something or anything. You won't get paid long if you sit on pile of cash or boring government bonds. Unless you are Buffet... Thus have to find some place to invest. And have to keep numbers looking good.

The inevitable result is misallocation at best or outright fraud at worst...