finished death buried caput, page-24

The stock market can be viewed as either a casino in which case it is a zero sum game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero%E2%80%93sum_game) or as an instrument of wealth creation from which not only investors benefit but also the society.

The problem is that wealth creation has risks which not withstanding being quite well understood (for instance, drilling for oil is only 15% to 40% successful depending on the area) nobody knows a priory which individual investors will be called to pay for the failures.

Morality of the story: If you are a trader then the share market is a casino but if you are an investor then the share market is an wealth creation instrument and a distributor of social losses.