A continuing myth that needs to be changed: "Wall Street was a casino for the rich."

[Stinky The Clown]

The word "casino" implies risk. There was NO risk. The game was rigged. We got robbed. The cops were part of the gang that robbed us.

[lame54]

1. The word CASINO is perfect - They OWN the casino

[Taverner]

6. ...and the HOUSE always wins

[Roland99]

10. Bingo!

[closeupready]

2. "House edge" refers to the fact that the casino can never lose, in the long-term.

So it's a perfect analogy.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. It's more like a 'slush fund'

that they 'primed' from time to time in order to draw in suckers and then fleece them when the time was ripe.

[zeemike]

4. That would imply that casino games are not rigged.

But they are just like Wall Street....the house always wins.

[deminks]

5. That, and they want Social Security to be their petty cash fund.

[jtrockville]

7. PLUS it wasn't just for the "rich". Even non-rich people had

retirement savings looted in this scam.

[TheKentuckian]

8. You don't get to use the casino. What you lost was the actual capital.

They use our money for the investments, while making huge sums for bundling your money for capital investment.

[jtrockville]

9. Yes indeed you're right. I was well and truly robbed blind.

[Roland99]

11. It's a casino for the regular investor

who can lose it all in a heartbeat (Worldcom, Enron, etc.)

But the institutional investors and those running the HFTs are safe as a baby in its mother's arms.

[Doc_Technical]

12. A favorite Robert A. Heinlein quote:

"Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet, you can't win."

[Skidmore]

13. It was a casino until they forced the lower classes to invest their

retirement monies in it, then it became a giant piggy bank.