Yes it's impressive, if time stood still and politics never changed, but that's not how the world works :) Everyone knows from the lesson of "retrospectivity" that growth can be just a temporary rise, or just the spike before a decline etc.
If we look at the UK's numbers in that same graph, after having travelled back to 2002 in our time machine, we could also say "but look at the rate of growth the past 4 years!", but looking back at the graph today, with "8 years later" of extra data...
My underlying point was that no mistake in graphs and statistics is as common as the repeated mistake of us trying to predict the future from contemporary numbers, and always ending up being wrong a few years later down the road. Statistics need lots of time to mature and settle.
If we look at the UK's numbers in that same graph, after having travelled back to 2002 in our time machine, we could also say "but look at the rate of growth the past 4 years!", but looking back at the graph today, with "8 years later" of extra data...
My underlying point was that no mistake in graphs and statistics is as common as the repeated mistake of us trying to predict the future from contemporary numbers, and always ending up being wrong a few years later down the road. Statistics need lots of time to mature and settle.