Bloomberg.com - December 31, 2008 - "Journal of a Plague Year: Faith in Markets Cracks Under Losses"

"It has been a year of record misery: the largest bankruptcy, bank failure and Ponzi scheme in U.S. history; $720 billion in writedowns and losses by financial institutions; $30.1 trillion in market valuation wiped out."

Timesonline.co.uk - February 11, 2009 - "Global stock market losses total $21 trillion"

"When equities bottomed on 21 November 2008, the MSCI World index had fallen 55 per cent since 31 October 2007. This worked out at a global loss of $21 trillion, or $ 21,000 for every individual in the developed world."

Foxbusiness.com - March 09, 2009 - "Internet Gambling Yield Passes US$20bn: Online Gambling Shows Resilience in Face of Recession"

"The total global interactive gross gambling yield surpassed US$ 20bn for 2008 in what proved to be a good year overall for the interactive gambling industry."

Now, You might think that the point I am making in this post is something about how the government should regulate and tax online gambling to take advantage of the fact that it is about the only thriving worldwide industry right now.

However, while I naturally agree with that thought - it only makes sense - it is not the point I am making today.

No, today, the only point I am trying to make is to ask the question:

What is the greater Evil: Gambling or the Stock Market?

Please note that I am not an anti-business person. As one of the founders of SportsDirect, I am naturally VERY pro-business.

However, in the 14+ years since we founded Covers.com, I have seen two recessions in North America. The first, hitherto known as the DotCom Bubble, destroyed hundreds of companies and ruined the life savings of many people. The second, what is now being called the Great Recession, has so far destroyed trillions of dollars of wealth and has decimated the life savings of an entire generation. And it is far from over. And let's not even talk about what the Asian Crisis did to that part of the world a decade ago.

The effects of this most recent stock market crash are only starting to be felt in the form of job losses, and soon people all over the world will have their lives directly affected, if not disrupted. In the aftermath, a few thousand people will have gotten extremely wealthy during the run-up, will have gotten out early enough, and will have ultimately benefited from the markets, while possibly hundreds of millions of people will have been better off had they stowed their money in their mattresses.

To put it mildly, I think I could rather conservatively say that there are probably at least a billion people in the world who wish they had never heard of the stock markets.

In the same period of time, I have heard a few dozen stories of people whose lives were ruined by gambling addiction.

I am not trying to minimize this issue. I understand that the dozens of stories I have heard regarding gambling addiction is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a small percentage of people who can not control their gambling impulses and as a result they ruin their lives and the lives of their loved ones. It is a terrible situation, but there is treatment available.

But let's face the facts... the amount of devastation caused by the evil of gambling is just a small drop compared to the wave of devastation caused by the greed and corruption of the worldwide markets.

And let's not even discuss the fact that there is obviously no difference between investing and gambling. If there ever was a difference, it was purely semantic, and that difference was nullified whenever they first allowed Short Selling.

So, no, I am not anti-business. I am not even anti-stock-market. I just wish they called it for what it is... gambling. And if they can do that, then they can loosen up and let other much-less-dangerous forms of gambling exist too.

Bottom line: I just wish that the playing field in the stock markets was as level as it is in sports betting.

So now is the time to chime in with your opinion...

What is the greater Evil: Gambling or the Stock Market?