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No one should be surprised at the used of percentage improvement to make the case that the market performed better under Obama. Because . . . innumeracy.

Hint: a big percentage increase is almost to be expected when the the starting point is super low. But that single measure surely does not tell the whole story.

Who’s the better MLB batter? A, who starts out hitting .100 and raises his average a whole 50%!!! to .150.

Or B, who starts out at .220 and raises it only 25% to .275. I know which one I’d want on my team.

Step back and look at the bigger picture. In exponential growth, you are always starting at a low point and growing from there. Nothing new there. If you look at the Obama years, you see his dip happening AFTER he took office. The chart starts before the crash when the DJIA was higher.

Here's the bigger picture DJIA going back to 1980. The market grew faster than the long-term average from 1995 to 2008. After the crash, it resumed its long-term growth trend. You can eyeball in that trend.