> Would be nice if authors just compared things to 2019

Why not 1985? Why a 3 year window and not a decade window? or Century? Or how it has changed over the last 12 parsecs?

The Baltic Dry index is down 68% the last year to belew 1988 levels.

That would not fit their narrative though.

Cherry picking data to fit your point is stats 101 for "journalists"

What agenda do you think Costas Paris of the Wall Street Journal is pushing here?

There doesn't need to be a hidden agenda—they simply want eye-catching headlines to drive clicks to their site.

"Ocean shipping rates have plunged 60% this year" -- I guess that's somewhat more eye-catching than "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative", but not by much.

It's therefore very frustrating that Google search on factual data is entirely dominated by proprietary data sources like statistia (https://www.statista.com/), whereas the sources are mostly open for free access somewhere lacking the necessary treaks to make them available.

>Cherry picking data to fit your point is stats 101 for "journalists"

What "point"? Shipping rates are down 60% in a year. That is a fact.

I guess business reporting is too complicated for some people here.