Boy, was I wrong

The NPR program "This American Life" is running an episode titled "Bad Bank" that attempts to explain the economy, and its drastic problems, simply and clearly to the listeners.
I heard the show last night and thought it was great. I'll spare you the details and just tell you the NPR finance reporters did an excellent job explaining the complex systems and problems and the producers delivered highly credible, yet conversational, experts to elaborate.
The part that struck me most about the show was when one of the experts presented a dire scenario. Apparently, the nation's combined debt surpassed the size of the GDP sometime in 2007.
The last time this happened? About 1929.
The expert described a chart that tracks debt relative to GDP throughout the 20th and early 21st century. The chart was two big peaks. We all know what happened after the first peak.
This was such a striking and compelling example I woke up today determined to find this chart and post it here with the suggestion that it is time to start describing the economy as being in a depression.
But as so often happens to reporters, the slam dunk evidence that was going to blow the lid off the story isn't as easy as that.
Instead, I found a report on the Business Insider Web site that says the debt-to-GDP chart and analysis is flat-out wrong and meaningless.
Check it out here.
Meanwhile, I'm going to try and track down the reporter for the NPR story for some reaction.
I'd like to hear what he and the expert have to say. The reporter has some pretty fancy credentials and his NPR bio credits him with filing, "the greatest explainer ever heard." So there's a darn good chance he has a good explanation for this discrepancy.
As a bonus, we'll find out what kind of sway Mediaocrity has in its field. (Don't hold your breath waiting for a response, in other words.)