It goes to show one has to be careful when presented with some data or a graph, and knows what to look for. The problem is you may not know the question to ask.
I still remember decades ago, when I first looked into investing, I ran across various apparently conflicting claims. For example, when I discussed with a friend that the average stock return was 10%, he showed me some data showing that after the market crash in 1928, it did not reclaim its high until 1952 or so, and that was before taking into account inflation. Egads! At 10% compounding gain, it should have been 10x after 24 years. Something was very wrong there.
Only later that I discovered that there was serious deflation after 1928, and the dollar became more valuable. And then, back then people were afraid to buy stocks, and stock prices were depressed such that the dividend yield was 10%. Yes, you get most of your return on the dividend, not on the stock price gain.
Now, dividend yield of the S&P is a puny 1.53%, and most of the gain comes from the price rise. But again, the total return in whatever form it comes must have inflation accounted for. One fools himself if he ignores inflation.
