Chart Crimes

📁 CASE FILE: The Truncated Y-Axis ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📊 CRIME: Axis starts above zero, turning molehills into mountains. 🔍 DETECTION: Check where the axis begins. ✅ VERDICT: Start your axis at zero. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Full investigation 👇

What a map.

For those unaware like this ignoramus, President Biden drained the SPR in 2021 and 2022 in a knee-jerk reaction to try lowering rising gas prices. POTUS cannot simply buy crude oil to fill up the SPR without funding. It requires Congressional approval to appropriate those funds. Last fall, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was able to purchase 1 million barrels of crude oil for $171 million for the Bryan Mound SPR site in Texas. It’s not much, but it’s a start. If he were to ask Congress for more, chances are that they would block it since that’s what they did in 2020 when he tried in his first term. Even if he had the funds to fill it, barrels can only be added at a maximum rate of ~3 million barrels / month. It would take at least 7 years to fill the SPR up to its 714 million-barrel capacity, which would extend well into the next administration. There are a lot of things to criticize the President about; this is not one of those unless you are a mentally dysfunctional moron with room temperature IQ.

@spencer_4hire @ChrisMartzWX Good catch! Classic Truncated Y-Axis...

@ChrisMartzWX Is this a chart crime? It looks like a chart crime.. @ChartCrimes

🚨🇮🇷 Iran’s missile arsenal is getting wiped out; they opened with about 350 ballistic missiles on Day 1, but by Day 5, they were down to roughly 40. Drone launches were the same story: nearly 300 the first day, over 500 the second, then collapsing to around 45 by Day 5. Cruise missiles barely appeared at all, roughly 25 total across the week before the graph flatlined. With U.S. and Israeli strikes smashing launchers, drone hubs, and underground storage, Iran is running out of toys while the shelves are being blown up behind them. Source: @TheIranWatcher

And the award for worst color presentation of a poll goes to Liaisons Is that inclusive and supposed to make us feel like we're all color blind?

This chart is just staggering. US beer shipments are expected to hit a 37 year low in 2026. The death of the Middle Class 💀

Periodic reminder

Buy a house or rent + investing Who wins?

This chart is fascinating, not only because of where the number stands today, but also how it has changed over time in these countries. Which one stands out most?

With only 10 million people, Israel has the third highest GDP in the Middle East following Turkey (population of 86 million) and Saudi Arabia (population of 37 million and massive energy wealth).

An estimated 1 million people showed up for the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl LX parade yesterday. Here’s where it ranked among past city Super Bowl parades 👇

2026 is still young, but that’s a serious candidate for the worst chart of the year. Or have you seen a chart that beats this one?

@EmmanuelMacron Might I suggest investing a tiny fraction of those billions in a proper charting tool 📊💸

“This clown wants to make France an AI leader with €30M.” €30 million → to attract and support around forty top-tier international researchers. They chose France for its values and its commitment to science. Sometimes it’s too slow… €54 billion → mobilized as early as 2022 to build France 2030. A France that advances health, climate, and fundamental science by investing boldly in artificial intelligence. Over €100 billion → in private investment announced at the Paris AI Summit by French and international companies to develop AI in France. That’s it? #1 → In 2025, France ranked first among countries attracting foreign investment to build data centers. More billions invested in our regions and in our talent. Yes. Here in France, we believe in science. And AI is here to elevate, to build, to move the world forward, not to insult. 🙊 #ForSure

They think you are dumb

@AnthonyMorley12 Good catch! I got tagged multiple times for this one. Classic Truncated Y-Axis! x.com/i/status/20180…

CC: @ChartCrimes

@WhiteHouse @WhiteHouse American steel is back… and so is my favourite chart crime: The Truncated Y‑Axis 🚨 You couldn’t have staged a better exhibit🔎 Thanks for the tag, @Thepaulcorby Case file 👇 x.com/ChartCrimes/st…

American steel is BACK. 🇺🇸

@pvrseph0ne @MichaelAArouet The chart isn’t saying Buffett acts quarterly, so I can’t see a chart crime here. And frankly, the animation is top tier, really well done. Thanks for sharing.

@MichaelAArouet Your chart measures by quarter years… Buffet notoriouslys sets his sights on longer term horizons. @ChartCrimes Is this chart legit?

Seriously, how is someone investing as a side hustle able to continuously beat both the S&P 500 and Warren Buffett? What's the secret sauce?

@GRITCULT This goes in the scale abuse folder. Left chart is log-scaled, right chart is linear. Nice spot, @gitmocapital.

Weimar German Marks vs Gold - 100 years ago on the left United States Dollar vs Gold - Today on the right. Not a good sign.

Fun idea, slightly dodgy execution. There are a couple of little chart crimes hiding, but the big one is using two axes when it’s just calories per 100g protein. With one metric, a simple sorted bar chart does the job. Alternative version below 📊👇 Thanks for the tag, @rlprsn.

A lot of foods people claim are "protein packed" aren't. Here's a helpful graphic showing you how many calories it would take to get 100 grams of protein from certain foods. What surprises you?