March 2014:
FRED Blog says this graph "shows how the composition of M2 has changed over time." Sounds about right; that, and that the graph shows the components "as shares of total M2."
But that's not what the graph says. The graph says it shows "(Billions of Dollars)". If that is correct, then the graph shows that M2 money has been stable at 100 billion dollars since 1960. It shows that M1 money (the top edge of the green region) is now about 25 billion dollars, half as much as it was in 1960.
Hard to believe.
Of course, it is the label of the vertical axis that is wrong. The graph doesn't show billions of dollars. It shows percent of total M2.
This is an error in the "new" FRED Graphing routines -- one of many errors that still exist in those routines. The old FRED Graphing routines were pretty much free of such errors. Gone are the days.
I miss the old FRED.
