Implausible deniability

Jon Chait criticizes the Wall Street Journal in today's L.A. Times:

At this point, you may be wondering whether it's really possible that professional editorial writers at a first-rate newspaper — people who, after all, are paid to think seriously about issues like this — could make such a simple statistical mistake. Are they really so dishonest or so dumb as to think that you can measure the fairness of a tax code by looking at what share of the taxes various groups pay without considering how much they earn? I can tell you, as a regular reader of that page, that the answer is: Yes, they really, really are.

I highly encourage you read his basic math lesson for WSJ editorial staffers. Very illuminating!