Do you play the markets?

It's hard to get in a conversation with HK people without talking about making money. I am of course too risk adverse to do any real investing. My guy cousins try to bring it up, but since I don't have much to say about it they quickly lost interest.

Everybody invests in the stock market, I remember back before the internet, housewives and grannies sit in bank branches watching the tickers, with passbook in hand. They have radio shows, tv shows, consumer magazines where they talk about investing not for retirement savings like in Canada, but for short term plays. (think Cramer's Mad Money on MSNBC, hilarious show btw)

When we were in the car, there was this radio show where, in a cute voice, the hostess talk bout the cotton commodities market's affect on the textile "downstream" industry. It's discussed at a depth that suprised me, they really don't try to dumb it down for the audience.