If you are a socialist, that is.

The chart below from Gapminder shows increasing incomes per person at accelerating rates after president JR Jaywardene liberalized the Sri Lankan economy in 1977. Certainly, this isn't good news for the lefties.


Say what you want about JR's politics, but the fact remains - his (partial) market-based reforms did make a lot of people's lives better. We need more of it, not less.

These stats of course, wouldn't change the mind of people like this commenter to whom I dedicate the title of this post. These are obviously some fake statistics designed as part of a neoliberal conspiracy initiated by the CIA and planted in Google gapminder.

No but seriously, Gapminder is just awesome, it converts boring numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics. See it's founder Hans Rosling's talks on TED here and here. Must See videos!