华尔街城市如今面临从危机走向更深层危机的困境，因为美国政府出台的一些文件，华尔街的赌场对待玩家们显得有点不公平。

　　美联储打算让超过$ 800亿美元进入金融系统，以抵制英国政府声明的其最新的获取监狱免费卡的输出。赌场赌博似乎即将进入金融世界。

　　让我们逐一看看事实。

　　1、当一名玩家在赌场失去他或她的钱，他再没有奖金或最后的工资补偿时，他面临的困境是可想而知的。

　　2、在赌场获得信贷，这并不容易。一般来说，如果玩家要享受赌场协会的预算，那么他就必须要在较短的时间内赢回利润或击中头奖。一旦他们能够顺利运行自己的预算，再借钱下注并不困难，甚至无需严密的安全备份你的借款。但是在华尔街城市，借贷似乎很容易的，只要你有公寓楼或办事处份额持有人的一张证明就可以了。

　　3、当你在玩赌场游戏时，一般情况下，您可以把赌注压在两个方向，即一个事件是否会发生或者不会发生。例如在轮盘上的投注就是投注红色或者投注黑色。这就像在股市的长期和短期。但不同的是，赌场游戏在同一时间内你不能同时对冲你的赌注，你不能采取“阵地”式的复杂的战略，让您可以借助大笔资金来投注一个相对较小的现金投资。

　　4、在赌场的赌场优势是非常好理解的。图书市场上关于这个主题的图书已经有很多了。但是这些图书都没有介绍网上赌场网站是如何监测各种网上赌场支付的。然而，在华尔街，没有人明白银行资产负债表上的黑洞的总价值是什么

　　5、在华尔街，如今只有唯一一个赌场的轮盘赌和老虎机，角子机在运转。在那里，人头攒动。

　　到目前为止，美国雷曼兄弟破产，股份出售给美国银行。华尔街形势不容乐观。金融市场类似于一个赌场吗？你是在开玩笑，不是吗？与疯狂的华尔街城市相比，拉斯维加斯是一个平静和安详的地方。至少饮料都是免费的，如果你在加沙地带投注。

　　译文

　　Wall Street Casinos

　　As Wall Street and The City lurch from crisis to crisis, there have been the inevitable headlines in the papers acusing the bankers of gambling with people?s money, and comparisons with casinos- somewhat unfairly, we think （for casinos and people who enjoy a spell at the tables that is）。

　　As the Federal Reserve starts to pump in more than $800 billion into the financial system, and the UK government anounces its latest monster Get Out of Jail Free Card, we compare the two activities below: casino gambling and the world of “high” finance to see if there really is any justification in making such a stark comparison between the 2 activites.

　　Let?s look at the facts one by one.

　　1. When a player loses his or her money at the casino, he loses his or her money at the casino. He doesn?t then walk off into the sunset with a big fat bonus and a final salary compensation when he calls the wrong colour at the roulette table or goes bust at the blackjack table.

　　2. It?s not that easy to get credit at a casino. Generally, players come with a budget to enjoy a session and either leave after they have hit their profit target or head off once they have run through their budget. It?s dificult to borrow money to bet without having water tight security backing up your borrowings. On Wall Street and in The City, however, it seems easy to borrow as long as you are a part share owner of a piece of paper that part owns a selection of run down offices and delapidated apartment blocks next to the freeway and underneath the flightpath of the nearest airport.

　　3. When you are playing casino games, you can generally bet in 2 directions- ie whether or not an event will  or will not take place. The game of craps comes to mind （Pass Bet and the Don?t Pass bet）， or betting on red and black in roulette. This is much like you can go long and short in the stock market. But the difference is, is that there is no real incentive to do this at the same time （ie by hedging your bets） and you certainly can?t take “positions” in complicated derivative instruments that allow you to borrow big amounts on the back of a relatively small cash investment.

　　4. The house edge at a casino is very well understood. There have been hundred of books written on the subject, not to mention online casino sites whose whole purpose is to monitor the payout at various online casinos. And the edge varies by game and by bet within the game. On Wall Street, however, no-one understands what the total value of the black hole on the banks balance sheets are because the games all got too complicated years ago. Not even the PHD boffin with the scraggly beard, suffering from body odour and  wearing the dark green fleece in the basement of HSBC in Canary Wharf understands what?s going on, exept that there?s a stampede going on and no-one has pressed the big green flashing button that says “DON¨T PANIC!”

　　5. The only thing that spins in a casino is the roulette wheel and the reels on the slot machines. On Wall Street, and in The City, however, everyone?s head is spinning.

　　In the US so far we have Lehman Brothers bankrupt and Merrill Lynch sold to Bank of America. We have the insurers and Man United sponsors AIG effectively nationalised, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The sharks are sniffing around Morgan Stanley- shares recently nosedived 26% as its business model is still one of big debts on risky securities. They are still waiting for their white samurai warrior to ride to the rescue. Now it look like Wells Fargo is on course to snap up Wachovia for a tidy $11.7 billion after Citigroup ran for the hills having seen their detailed balance sheet.

　　Are the financial markets similar to a casino? You?re joking, aren?t you? Las Vegas is a calm and serene place compared to the madness that is going on on Wall Street and in The City. At least the drinks are free if you are betting on The Strip.