[lbo-talk] Naomi Klein Goes Daft

[Gar Lipow]

>
> "Average" is used both as a broad term for measures of central
> tendency as well as a synonym for "mean." At least that's the way I
> learned it. In this case, the way NK wrote it - like an inverted
> Woebegon - would lead a lot of people to scratch their heads. Maybe
> she and/or the Nation eds were afraid of bringing up the concept of
> "median" vs. "mean" because it's too geeky. Or maybe they don't
> really know the diff.
>

Yeah but as you point out average income really is commonly used as
synonym for mean. According to this Census Bureau report median
household income in 2006 was around $63,402, while mean household
income was around $86,528.  As I remember the top household income
quintile starts around $85,000 (from memory so plus or minus a bit) .
Klein could have accurately said that around 4 in 5f households less
than the average U.S. household income. Given that "average" is a
valid synonym for "mean" what she said was precisely correct. She
opened herself up to people inferring the most common, rather than
second most common meaning of "average", and thus reading her
statement as self-contradictory.   Given that she will be read and
interpreted by hostile audiences, that was an error, but hardly
"daft".

http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/hhinc/new04_001.htm