That wasn't your point, nor was it the point I was rebutting. I took no issue with the term "ivory tower" (of course all legislature does tend to come from the

That wasn't your point, nor was it the point I was rebutting. I took no issue with the term "ivory tower" (of course all legislature does tend to come from them), but rather positing that what had emerged from that ivory tower "must be wrong if 60% of the people living in NY don't hit the standard. If the city was populated by 60% people who do not earn enough to live" - that's positing that people should be satisfied with subsisting, and anyone who says otherwise "must be wrong".