• dustyData@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      And it’s dumb. It says all you need to know about the ethical integrity of most economists. Lying for profit.

      • ArtVandelay@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        If you are trying to show year-over-year profit and you have $100 million give or take a few thousand, then starting your y-axis at zero is going to be a pretty worthless graph

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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        2 months ago

        Jesus fuck no, it’s a valid graph. It shows the relative trend over time and the sudden change. It may show less of a change if it was zero based, but a drastic change that is well off the normal trend is important to visualize. Also like, all exchanges have a toggle to flip to the zero based.

        • dustyData@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Look at this thread and realize that it’s just a lie. You can show the exact same information with a starting at zero graph, but won’t be able to push the “stock is tanking!” panic point. Publishers and marketers do this on purpose to manipulate headlines. This is why the stock market is mostly just high stakes gambling. No one involved is making rational decisions, just moving from panic to mania like psychotic patients.