Re:July 2018 Median Household Income in the U.S.
by camgunz on Sunday October 07, 2018 @11:36PM
(#18163964)
> If you’re interested in the yearly swings
Why would they be? They certainly didn't say they are.
> What you really means is that using an honest scale makes the trend look less dramatic.
I think "honest" is a loaded term here. It's a well known fact that income inequality has been growing in the US for decades now, and the trend is dramatic and undeniable. Are there ways to minimize it visually in a graph? Sure, you could blow out the axes, or you could do yearly deltas which wouldn't have the line moving past a few percent ever. Both of these suggestions would flatten this phenomena, and coincidentally both have been suggested here. But the phenomena itself is not flat, and therefore it is the flat representation that, by definition, would be misleading.
Why would they be? They certainly didn't say they are.
> What you really means is that using an honest scale makes the trend look less dramatic.
I think "honest" is a loaded term here. It's a well known fact that income inequality has been growing in the US for decades now, and the trend is dramatic and undeniable. Are there ways to minimize it visually in a graph? Sure, you could blow out the axes, or you could do yearly deltas which wouldn't have the line moving past a few percent ever. Both of these suggestions would flatten this phenomena, and coincidentally both have been suggested here. But the phenomena itself is not flat, and therefore it is the flat representation that, by definition, would be misleading.