Investopedia.com posted a new entry at its website this week, one that pertains to America’s dangerous addiction to imported oil. The financial services website gave a broad overview of crude oil, including pricing, how crude is traded, and what exchanges carry crude and crude-related contracts.
The post also gave a lucid analysis of the ever-increasing U.S. appetite for foreign oil, which has grown steadily from a minor portion of the country’s total oil consumption to almost 70 percent today. The end result is the greatest transfer of wealth in world history.
Although lowering our dependence on foreign oil may seem like a new idea, it’s actually more than 35 years old. It has been argued by some that America has learned very little from our dysfunctional relationship with oil. In 2009, 63% of the crude oil processed in United States refinery came from foreign sources. In 1970, only a few years before we were faced with a national security as well as economic crisis due to our dependence on foreign oil, we only imported 24% of our oil. Today, $475 billion is spent on foreign oil. That’s money that is being sent to other countries instead of being spent in our own country according to famous oil man, T. Boone Pickens. He and others argue that we’ve learned very little from the oil scares of the past and, if oil is once again used as leverage for political or military gain, the United States is more vulnerable than ever in its history.
One point worth noting is that there is a distinct correlation between the price of a gallon of gasoline and the number of people who advocate the development of domestic energy.
With Americans once again paying $4 at the pumps, our alleged overuse of foreign oil has taken center stage once more. If history is any guide, when the price of oil again drops, our energy consumption worries will fade away until the next crisis. Sometime, maybe not far in to the future according to T. Boone Pickens, a global event may take place that forces us to finally learn from the mistakes of the past.
Read the entire post HERE.