A rising stock price is better than cash because it isn't a taxable event and yet can be monetarized, e.g., when used as collateral for for a loan.  If you're a bank a rising stock price is a capital asset contributing to your reserves.  And there's lots of other financial shenanigans that can be pulled - derivatives immediately spring to mind.

None of this has anything to do with actually producing something.  

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre