> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Max Sawicky
> My whole point was that the addition of lower incomes
> need not literally drag down the incomes of those
> already here, though it does reduce the average of
> the 'new' enlarged population.
I understand the analytical point but the same argument goes for the fact that older people usually make more than younger people, so even when inequality is increasing, people poor at an earlier snapshot in time will often on average be better off later - despite increasing inequality. (I believe there have been a few studies to this effect, often misused by the Rightwing to argue that everyone therefore has benefitted from growth.)
In the abstract, I understand your desire for clarity, but that same desire for clarity requires that you qualify it with an understanding that snapshots at two different times are not really comparable, because people age and those structural economic forces are at work. Clarity is a two-way street. Otherwise, not only is it intellectually wrong, but your statements are ripe for misuse by the Right (or derision by the Left).
-- Nathan Newman