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Serious question - looking at the graph, it looks like the disparity between U3 and U6 jumped quite a bit in 2009 and is just starting to get back the historical difference today. Do you think it was valid to be concerned about the disparity increasing by so much in 2009? That part does strike me as a little worrying, though it is coming back in line now, which seems good.

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The difference looks fairly consistent:

Febuary 1995: U6 is 183% of U3.

Febuary 2000: U6 is 175% of U3.

Febuary 2004: 173%

Febuary 2006: 155%

Febuary 2007: 182%

March 2008: 178%

Febuary 2009: 183%

March 2010: 172%

Febuary 2011: 177%

Febuary 2012: 180%

March 2013: 184%

Febuary 2014: 188%

There quite a bit of variance, but it seems to be seems to have been consistently in the 170-185%, with a few outliers.

Steep changes in the slope can introduce visual distortions when you compare the gap between two series. If you download and plot the difference, I think you'll see less of a change.

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