If you read the papers, especially concerning the privatization of Social Security, you will find many examples of where the editorial writers who compare the change to the spin of a roulette wheel. This happens because most editorialists, along with many in the general public, are guilty of innumeracy. Webster's defines the innumerate as someone who is ignorant of mathematics and the scientific approach. Unfortunately, being innumerate does not prevent a person from having opinions or writing them in a paper. Fortunately, most financial reporters know about concepts such as compound interest or they find that their audience quickly educates them.
Fools remember when the tulip hysteria was placed in Denmark.
Widespread innumeracy, strangely enough, is what the financial services people must have been betting on. If people look favorably on the lottery, then they will look favorably on investing. Their marketing gooroos must have come up with the idea that to bring in a new wave of investors, they must go after the betting crowd. Because there is an element of uncertainty in both. There are no guarantees that the Dogs of the Dow will continue to perform as they have.