Exhibit A

From SeekingAlpha, The Myth of US Energy Independence, Alan Von Altendorf.

I saw this article when it first came out, but did not link it. I made the conscious decision not to link it.

Now I am making the conscious decision to post it.

This should start a lively discussion:

The fly in the ointment is energy. Global oil supply has plateaued and more demand will push up prices. Americans always think of themselves first, but we're not alone in consumption of energy. China, Japan, Korea, India, the EU, and exporters like Saudi Arabia and Russia are consumers, too. Last week Britain came within days of running out of natural gas until three LNG supertankers arrived from Qatar. Those cargoes were held, waiting to see who would pay the highest price. It was freezing cold in Britain, a pipeline from Belgium went down, and the Brits bid 30% above market for the LNG cargoes to stave off power blackouts, misery and death. Price was no object. They had to have emergency supplies and it's a seller's market.

That's the ugly truth about oil & gas, flat supply and high demand.

Oil inventories in particular are extremely tight. Spare production and market rigging are easily disproved. It's a competitive global market with thousands of brokers, shippers, production operators and service companies. OPEC quotas don't mean squat. Everyone is pumping as much as they can.

And then, this, about the Bakken:

Another one of Sean Hannity's brainless rants had listeners leaping for joy, because exponential fracking for oil in North Dakota, Montana, and the Texas Eagle Ford can produce an endless cornucopia of abundant, cheap U.S. gasoline, if we get those pesky environmentalists out of the way! America has so much shale oil that we could be the world's Number One oil producer and exporter! Never have to import another barrel of oil from the Middle East!

Okay. Reality check.

Go to the linked article for the explanation.