I found out something interesting today. Maybe I have been living in a bubble and everyone else is already aware of this little bit of information I discovered. Of course by discover I mean read in the current issue of Money Magazine. However, being persistent and unable to settle for one persons opinion I hit google for more affirmation.    The title should be a dead give away but in case you are still unsure I will tell you. This article is about the United States dependency on "foreign oil" or the "middle east" for oil. We hear it spoken on the news constantly and most recently by President Obama.

This is not a knock on him though, more a knock on the general spin of media.    Let me get to the point. Money states that "Canada reaps the largest share of our crude oil dollars." In case you missed that, CANADA ! Not the middle east, not Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, South America, but Canada.  A paragraph on the Energy Information Administration website states, "Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in December, exporting 2.555 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a increase from last month (.023 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.444 million barrels per day."    I do not know about anyone else but this was an eye opener for me. We are lead to believe that war in the middle east and bombs in Iran are causing the punishing prices in oil we pay. That shipping costs and the war in Iraq are causing prices to have to increase dramatically. Not so believable now.    If anyone knows more about this please let me know. As a consumer I feel very mislead by our government and media. I am not sure what our deal is with Canada but it must be good if we our so willing to point a figure so easily at other nations that are a much smaller piece of the whole pie.    So the next time oil goes up chances are a Moose herd ran in to a pipeline than a kidnapping in Pakistan.

~ Matt

ref: EIA of Department of Energy December 2008 Data