Then you've misunderstood their point. Their claim is there's a zero-sum occurring. A + B + C = 0 So that if A goes to A+1, with the sum still zero; then B,C

Then you've misunderstood their point. Their claim is there's a zero-sum occurring. A + B + C = 0 So that if A goes to A+1, with the sum still zero; then B,C must reduce. This thinking is mistaken as applied to an economy. The stability of this mean (ie., that the rate of change of the mean is zero) does not imply that anyone is loosing out. It is entire possibly, and likely, that the effect is caused by different rates of loss and gain that are not competing with each other at all.