If you and your neighbor have the same income and expenses except that he rides the bus for free every day while you pay a fare, he will be richer than you. Until recently, this was obvious: the neighbor is a free rider while you pay your way.
But now, the obvious is presented by some as a eureka moment. Now, plenty of people are extolling the benefits of free-riding without naming it as such and encouraging a large exodus from active to passive (or indexed) funds (like the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY) or the SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF (MDY)). The only problem is that proponents of this form of free-riding neglect to also mention the following corollary sub-plot.
Now your neighbor makes you feel like a fool and convinces you to also ride for free. Soon, your whole town has caught on to the idea and…