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0 pointsnoelwelsh6y ago0 comments

I made no such claim. You're reading that into my words.

If I have a data set from which I pick a value higher than the median there must be a value lower than the median ... otherwise the median would be higher. It's not a statement about economics but about math.

I'm not saying there cannot be economic growth (though, generally, wage inequality is rising so most people aren't seeing the benefits of this).

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5 comments · 2 top-level

wallacoloo6y ago· 3 in thread

It sounds like you’re saying that if GP fights for higher salary, that comes from the loss of someone already making less than him. Whereas many of us have the impression that higher salaries come at the loss of investors or shareholders, who are usually better off than yourself.

Otherwise, who exactly are you shafting by asking for a higher salary?

noelwelshOP6y ago

I'm not talking about individuals asking for higher salary. I'm talking about societal inequality. You cannot have a large group of people earning a lot more than the median income without having a large group earning a lot less.

European salaries are lower in part because Europe has less inequality than the US. It's a feature not a bug. That's the main point.

On an individual level I'm all for people negotiating, and for transparency in salaries so the workforce knows what is fair.

kragen6y ago

> You cannot have a large group of people earning a lot more than the median income without having a large group earning a lot less.

Actually you can; you can have a large group of people learning a lot more than the median income, arbitrarily more, counterbalanced by an equally large group of people earning barely less than the median income. This does in fact happen in practice and is precisely the reason the median income is so much lower than the per-capita GDP.

christiansakai6y ago

So it is zero sum? I don’t understand. Seems you are contradicting your own claims.

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scarejunba6y ago

I apologise for misunderstanding. Please clarify how someone gets shafted when I earn more money.

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