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Chart Humor

December 8, 2014, 8:36 am

From here.  Given how often this happens in the media, it almost is not even funny.

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Category: Uncategorized

2 Comments

  1. bigmaq1980:

    Gosh, so true! No sure which is worse this or cherry picking data.

    December 9, 2014, 2:24 pm

  2. HenryBowman419:

    It's not the best way to present data, for sure, but at least the actual numbers are presented on the top of each bar. Sometimes I see similar charts that show a y-axis without any numbers. Such charts are utterly meaningless, of course.

    A couple of years ago I read a Krugman column in which he attempted to make the case that the U.S. income tax system was regressive rather than [highly] progressive. He provided a histogram in his column to support his argument. A quick glance at the histogram seemed to provide ammo for his assertions. However, close inspection revealed that Krugman changed the width of each bar on the his histogram in a way to support his argument. Looking at the actual numbers, his argument was invalid.

    December 9, 2014, 4:36 pm