Beezer: When I look at data multi-year data, I tend to look for two things: "velocity" and "acceleration." Velocity refers to the the aggregate or average over the time period. Acceleration refers to the change in the trend over time.
For example, in a car, you might say a driver over a three hour period averages 60 miles per hour. However, a different picture emerges when the driver drives the first hour at 10MPH, the second hour at 60MPH, and the third hour at 110MPH.
Of course, none of this might be germane...just thought I'd throw it out there for consideration...
