[Southack]

"I thought you wanted me to show how average salaries are decreasing. But, whoops, I just did, once inflation is factored in."

Your spin is getting a bit out of control. You haven't shown that national average salaries are decreasing. All that you've done is to show that a single technical field had a 3% decline. And inflation has nothing to do with this, and it won't, until we get into **relative** declines rather than absolute declines.

[dirtboy]

Your spin is getting a bit out of control. You haven't shown that national average salaries are decreasing.

Adjusted for inflation, they did just that. Take out governmental jobs, and average salaries after inflation went down about 1.4 percent. That ain't spin. That's the ground truth.

All that you've done is to show that a single technical field had a 3% decline.

Try 4.8 percent - BEFORE inflation. And that is ALL of information processing - once touted as the future of the American economy. But you downplay it - again.

You're really getting more and more contemptable by the minute. Decent folks who support Bush would NEVER go this far to downplay the suffering that millions are facing in this country. But all you can pretend is that down is somehow up.

[dirtboy]

You haven't shown that national average salaries are decreasing.

OK, Southack, tell me how an increase in average salaries of 1.8 percent, coupled with an inflation rate of 2.2 percent, is a net positive.