WALL STREET and the CASINO LABEL

In this age of HEADLINE NEWS... BREAKING NEWS, and just plain ordinary news, it is difficult, sometimes impossible, to determine, or decide, what to believe, the accuracy of the source material, or, the distinction between facts and bias. There is no better example than the  current coverage of the financial overhaul dominating the Washington/Wall Street series of meetings, hearings, investigations, charges, and forecasts. Perhaps, the most egregious use of language has been the label of 'Casino' to describe Wall Street in general. That deliberate slam has no basis in truth, in fact, even in error! 

Why would any reputable media source, radio, TV, print - create a negative view of Wall Street by comparing it to the gambling world of Casinos? It makes one wonder if the people who write the scripts for news readers, or the writers themselves, have ever set foot in a Casino. Anyone who has observed the atmosphere and the ambience of a typical Casino in the USA knows that the patrons are  ordinary people, usually very ordinary! They are NOT the investors of the world whose desperate attempts to enhance their asset base turn to Casinos to gamble thousands of dollars at the crap tables, or the Black Jack tables, or even the poker games. Certainly not at the 'slots' where flashing lights proclaim 'jack pots' worth millions. 

Casinos are for gamblers. Wall Street is for investors. And never the twain shall meet!

Now, having said that, and assuring you, dear reader of ViewPoint, that this writer has had ample experience in both sanctums, even in the sanctum sanctorum, of the gambling world - the 'holy'  - the city of Las Vegas - and, of course, feet first, head first, into Wall Street where people look the part, dress the part, and have vastly more experience than even the most capable boss or croupier of any Casino, in moving money, your money for the primary purpose of growth, enhancement, safety, and/or pure greed!

Not so in the hallowed halls of the Casinos of the world. This is where your money is betting against a carefully calculated system that guarantees 'the house' that they, not you, will make a profit! How could it be otherwise? How long would a Casino survive if the odds were not predetermined to favor the Casino? Naturally, some gamblers win money, just as most lose money. But at the end of the day who do you think is ahead? Only a goof ball, a fool, a novice, a newcomer, might walk into a Casino and expect to walk out with more than they had going in! The usual mantra on exiting is 'Well, we didn't make any this time, but we broke even, and that's as good as winning. After all, we enjoyed the evening!"

This is not to be considered a puff piece for 'The Street'. The revelations surfacing every day are too damning to slough off as 'business as usual!' The transparency of Casinos is their saving grace. The secrecy of Wall Street may be their undoing. Who know what 'derivitives' meant. or 'credit swaps', or 'tainted mortgages'? Those terms invariably meant additional profits for Wall Street firms and their brokers - without any assurances that the investors buying into these attractive but untested instruments would produce the promised returns.

If the reporters comparing Wall Street to Casinos added to their reportage a simple line like - 'of course, Casinos want your money and can only make money when they encourage you to play their gams!' - while Wall Street really does not care whether you make money or not - since there is a commission or charge on every transaction - which they keep no matter what!'

Bottom line: Wall Street tries to make money for their clients - the investors. Casinos try to take as much money as possible from every gambler present! There is no comparison.

Richard Carlton

May 3, 2010

Issue No. 9