Math Is Hard

One of the infuriating things about life in America is the predictablility of media ignorance. All day I've been hearing that the Dow has now lost 48% of its value.

Umm...

The Dow Jones all time high was on October 9 of 2007. It was 14164. Today.. the Dow closed at 6763.

Does that sound like 48% to you?

No. In fact... 6763 is almost exactly 48% of 14164. Therefore the Dow has not lost 48% of its value... it has lost 52% of its value. And just in case you're one of those types that likes to talk about how this is just like the 70's.. and no where near as bad as the depression... I suggest you consider this...

We're 16 months into this shindig... and we've lost 52%. 16 months into the Great Depression... we'd lost a grand total of... 55%. As for the 70s... we've already surpassed that percentage loss and show no signs of recovering.

See... we're not really in uncharted territory here... we're just in territory that hasn't been charted since 1930.