So a big part of this blog is that I think I am a lot smarter than other people on the internet.

There are lots of people on the internet not as well-informed as me.

Whoever posted this might not have been one of them.

One of the major parts about junk information is "Saturday Night Live Syndrome" , the belief that things as we see them are right in the middle of decay. And so when I saw this, I thought it was a prime example. I knew that in at least one period in the past 50 years, unemployment was up quite high, and so I thought this was an exaggeration. But then I actually looked at the 50-year unemployment rate, and I saw that the claim is not much of an exaggeration. And since there are lots of different ways to calculate unemployment, the claim is probably true.

As for the second part, corporate profits, that might be harder to say. There are lots of ways to calculate corporate profits, and you need an advanced degree in either or both accounting and economics to understand them.

Overall though, I think this picture communicates something without much exaggeration. I don't think the claim is deceptive, although maybe it could be argued on technical grounds.