I'm not quite sure if I understand your point, but I'll play.
1. I never said that making sound, well managed investment is a gamble. When you invest in something, you are essentially putting your money/time on something that you believe will worth more than what is worth today (lets not talk about options and securities
![Aw :aw: :aw:](/community/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/aw.gif)
).
2. It is not true that when you make money in the stock market, someone else lose their's. Investment is not a zero sum game.
3. You seem to believe that investing in stock market is illegitimate, but I think what you really mean is that there are unethical activities involving investing which I briefly mentioned in my original post. Enron, Countrywide, Leman Brothers, AIG etc all used sophisticated accounting techniques to inflate their value/mislead investors which are highly unethical and their CEOs/CFOs deserve to rot in hell.
Having that said, I still believe that someone with discipline and knowledge will benefit greatly by investing in the financial market than betting their retirement on slot machines.