Innumeracy – Executive Branch Edition

The employment level fell last month at a smaller rate than it has fallen in the recent past, which is good news, but let’s not get carried away. What is wrong with this characterization?

"The worst may be behind us," President Barack Obama said outside the White House today.

And this one?

"Today, we're pointed in the right direction," Obama said.

I may regret blogging on calculus, but he is mistaking an inflection point for a minimum.














Employment is still falling, just not at as fast of a rate. The “worst” is still ahead of us and we are not yet “pointing in the right direction.” Now, Churchill understood multiple meanings of inflection.