[mda]

Why do people spend time on useless graphs for something that could be explained clearly in 3-4 sentences?

[skc]

Because it's blog. He's not writing for the Times.

[steveklabnik]

Sometimes, pictures show information better than words.

Also, infographics get embedded, which still sends traffic your way...

[hdevalence]

Yeah, but these pictures don't show the information that well. You can't see the numbers side by side -- you have to click between and have an animation run. In addition, they use a two-dimensional representation for one-dimensional data, which is bad because people are bad at judging the sizes of areas.

It's not about making charts, it's about making bad charts.

[mbennett]

The writer does not seem to be a paid journalist and they helpfully provide the raw data.

Perhaps someone will make a better chart and post it.