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From: ags@pucc-i (Seaman)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Zero Sum Gain???
Message-ID: <232@pucc-i>
Date: Fri, 9-Mar-84 14:14:15 EST
Article-I.D.: pucc-i.232
Posted: Fri Mar  9 14:14:15 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 11-Mar-84 01:04:43 EST
References: <541@ihuxb.UUCP>
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Lines: 17

>  The idea of a "zero sum gain" is very popular among those who feel
>  that capitalists (whoever that is) exploit the workers, the people,
>  etc.

That's "zero sum GAME," not gain.  The term comes from the mathematical
theory of games.  A game is called "zero sum" if the sum of the payoffs
to the participants is zero.  An example of a zero-sum game is poker.

When John Kennedy said, "A rising tide lifts all boats," he was taking
the position that the economy is not a zero-sum game.
-- 

Dave Seaman
..!pur-ee!pucc-i:ags

"Against people who give vent to their loquacity 
by extraneous bombastic circumlocution."