Something that would be useful in my case is a monitor stand stand. Does anyone know why almost no current monitor can be raised so that the upper edge is at eye level? Is it due to incompetence among the current breed of designers? Quite a few of my colleges have a stack of books beneath the monitor stand.

I bought this Hyper HyperStand some years ago:

https://techaeris.com/2020/11/01/hyperstand-review-solid-por...

It's perfect: nice looking, highly functional, beautifully designed, and collapsible.

$29.99.

Alas, discontinued.

Perhaps eBay?

Edit: I just found a tricked-out version on eBay here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226769239456?_skw=Hyper+HyperStand+...

Law suits / claims, I'd expect, as tall is unstable.

If I sell a Monitor With Really Tall Monitor Stand and then you lightly bump your desk and break your monitor, you might want a replacement and call my stand "an unstable PoS".

If I sell you a Monitor and you stack books under it and your monitor falls... well... dummy, tall stuff falls over. Time to buy a new monitor.

Isn't the manufacturer to blame if I get neck problems then?

Many monitor arms on gas struts have extended range and this is no problem. Ergotron was one of the first

Try getting “Enterprise” monitors like Dell UltraSharp or HP EliteDisplay. Not they only come with better feet (height adjustable & pivoting), they are calibrated and have really good panels which you can stare at for hours without fatigue.

Monitor arms are cheap enough and better than a stand. Clamp the arm to an edge and you can put things under the monitor, plus put the monitor where you want it.