Tuesday, September 16, 2014

John Hinderaker Can't Even Read A Graph

Now we have the headline "Income Stagnation Under Democrats."

Hinderaker posts this graphic from the Census, claiming it shows Democratic policies lead to a drop in incomes:


Except, of course, that isn't what the graph shows.  It shows the incomes rose in the 1980s and 1990s (Democrats and Republicans) and then moved sideways under Bush (who Hinderaker called a genius) and down under Obama.   In other words, it rose under a Republican and Democrat, stagnated under Bush and fell under Obama.  This is called chart reading, which Hinderaker obviously can't do.

And then there is this:

 
 
The reality is that as the labor force participation rate rose (largely due to women and baby boomers entering the labor force) incomes and the economy expanded.  But as the baby boomers started to retire (which is the primary reason for the drop in the LFPR) incomes started to stagnate.
 
So, Hinderaker can't even read a simple graph correctly.  Dear God, but this man is stupid.