I tried not to, but

I just have to pass along this comment from The New Republic. It's one of my biggest pet peeves -- people who intentionally misuse numbers to make things look bleaker than they really are. The financial system crisis is bad enough on its merits; there's no need to make it look worse by harping on "the largest one-day point drop in history." It's basically the same complaint I've had for the last few years about how gas prices are at "all-time highs." That is (roughly) true over the past few months, but it wasn't really so (in inflation adjusted terms) for much of the time it was being reported.

Anyway, the comment from TNR goes over some familiar, basic complaints, but it also offers evidence that it's an intentional misuse of numbers rather than just a result of journalists' (general) lack of numerical aptitude. Read the whole thing; it's not long.