'US dependency on foreign oil'

President Obama's Lies Regarding U.S. Dependency On Foreign Oil

Global Economic Analysis,

2 March, 2012

The Los Angeles times notes Obama, chart in hand, presses his case on gas prices

As rising gas prices are putting pressure on politicians to act, President Obama called on Congress to vote quickly to eliminate subsidies for the oil industry, returning to a favorite target the president.

Obama repeated his case, outlined in a speech last week, that there is "no silver bullet" to rising gas prices. He highlighted his administration's effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil and boost development of alternative energy.

This week he introduced a new prop to illustrate his point. As Obama spoke, a chart popped up on television screens behind him. The graph showed U.S. dependence on foreign oil falling since 2005 -- from 60% of net imports to 45% in 2011.

The White House handed out copies to the crowd. Obama told them to take it home -- "it makes for a great conversation piece at parties."

"Now, one reason our dependence on foreign oil is down is because of policies put in place by our administration and my predecessor’s administration. And whoever succeeds me will have to keep it up."

Really? No, Not Really?

The Facts show that President Obama is disingenuous at best, and a blatant liar at worst. I lean towards the latter. Reader Tim Wallace provides charts to prove it.

Petroleum Distillates Usage

That looks pretty good, doesn't it? But what the heck does it have to do with reduction in foreign demand, and more importantly, Obama's role (or lack thereof) in achieving those gains.

For the answer to those most pertinent questions, let's display the usage in terms of foreign demand.

Petroleum Distillates Percentage Usage

Chart Explanations

Reader Tim Wallace writes ...

Hello Mish -

I almost went apoplectic today reading on line that the President is now claiming to have cut our dependency on foreign oil, and that the US has imported less each year of his Presidency. 

Foreign oil imports have indeed dropped throughout his Presidency, but as the attached charts show, there is a reason for that drop - a tremendous decline in USA usage overall. This is because of a declining economy, NOT because of "alternate sources" or any of the other lies tossed our way by the government.

Of more interest is the fact that although the amount of foreign oil has declined, it has grown as a percentage of our overall supply.

During the Obama Presidency we have become more dependent on foreign oil, not less! 

His entire speech was disingenuous at best.

Tim

There you have it. President Obama absolutely did not cut dependency on foreign oil. In fact, foreign oil dependency rose from roughly 37% to 40% under his administration. To be more precise, foreign petroleum usage in his administration went from 37% to a peak of 41% last year, currently at 39.9%.

The only way Obama can take credit for the decline in consumption caused by the recession, is to take credit for the recession itself.

Here is an opinion piece by Thom Hartmann of the Big Picture; he sees America as 'swimming in oil' but that the oil prices are being driven by the oil companies and speculators in Wall Street; that America is the leading refiner of oil for the world - and therefore leading the world in dirty technology (and in asthma and cancer)

If America is swimming in oil - why are gas pumps guzzling all your $$?

The  BIg Picture

With the economy improving - Republicans have started attacking President Obama about rising gas prices. Some forecasts show gas prices hitting five dollars a gallon this summer - and the Right wants you to belive that high prices have something to do with President Obama's rejection of the Keystone pipeline - or maybe his refusal to expand drilling in Alaska - or just his downright hatred of America. They want you to belive that the United States has a shortage of oil - and that if the President were to just drill, baby, drill - then prices will plummet. But that's not true. It's not even close to true. 

The United States isn't short on oil - it's awash in oil. In fact - we have so much oil that we're getting rid of much of it by shipping it overseas. As Bloomberg reported yesterday...for the first since 1949 - that's 62 years - the United States is now a net-exporter of oil products. That means we shipped more oil products out to places in South America, Europe, and Asia - than we imported in from around the world. In fact - every single day in 2011 - oil corporations ship about 460,000 MORE barrels of oil OUT of the country than were imported into the country that day. So if gas prices are rising because supplies in the US have dropped - then why are we getting rid of so much of it by exporting it? It's because the President can't legally tell multi-billion dollar transnational oil corporations where to sell their oil. And these corporations don't give a damn about gas supplies in the United States - because they're getting a way better deal taking their oil and selling it elsewhere. And that's what they're doing - and that's why they wanted the Keystone pipeline.