Wild stat: America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve just dropped below 300M barrels for the first time since the early '80s (down to about 243M after the Iran war drawdown). Experts, including a former senior energy advisor, say going this low risks damaging the underground salt caverns that store the oil. A GAO report even said officials are holding it together with "Band-Aids." The Energy Department disagrees, saying the caverns are fine, it is just the oil to water ratio shifting. Whoever you believe, here is the fact that matters: this reserve exists to protect the US (and by extension, global markets) from severe oil shocks, and it is being drained down to levels not seen in over 40 years. That should give everyone pause.(Lark Davis)