In the 21^st century Corporate Media, where “black is white” and “up is down”; perverse reporting of economic data is par for the course. However, nowhere will one find a larger mass of hyperbole and deception than with respect to the epic myth of supposedly emerging U.S. “energy independence.”

First let’s outline this simplistic fantasy. Some intrepid talking-head in the mainstream media points out that U.S. oil production has been “steadily rising” and U.S. oil demand has been “steadily falling”. The data is then plotted on a chart, the lines are extrapolated into the future, and then the talking-head points to the projected intersection-point, and exclaims “Look, soon the U.S. will be energy independent.”

It’s a delightful tale for small children, and would likely make a fine “Disney movie.” Unfortunately it’s a fantasy which cannot be rationally incorporated into the real world. Debunking the myth requires breaking it down into its components.

The starting-point is to explain something scrupulously avoided by all the talking-heads clucking about “energy independence”: why U.S. oil demand is falling. The dynamic is very simple: when economies grow, oil-demand grows. There has never been an exception to this principle since our economies became dependent upon oil…until the “U.S. recovery” of 2009-13.

Since U.S. oil demand peaked in the middle of last decade at more than 20.5 million barrels per day; it has plummeted by roughly 10% to approximately 18.5 mbpd currently. This collapse in U.S. oil demand has only been equaled once previously since the Second World War: during the Great Stagflation of the 1970’s.

What is important to note, however, is that severe recession also marked the one sustained effort by the U.S. government and U.S. auto industry to radically improve “energy efficiency”. While the U.S. has talked about greater efficiency in the decades which followed, in all the decades of (actual) economic growth which occurred since then, U.S. oil demand has steadily risen until 2007.

Since that point, U.S. oil demand has plummeted to a 16-year low. It plummeted all through the (official) Great Recession, and has kept falling throughout this (supposed) Recovery. Has there been some great “energy efficiency revolution” which the U.S. government forgot to tell everyone about?

Apparently not. In fact, President Obama recently announced a new plan to attempt to “double U.S. energy efficiency” over the next two decades. This follows his “new plan” to increase energy efficiency in 2011, and his “new plan” to increase energy efficiency in 2009. One presumes the Obama regime would not find it necessary to announce new “energy efficiency” initiatives (like some solar-powered cuckoo-clock) if the old plans were actually accomplishing anything.

Thus the equation is simple: shrinking oil demand = shrinking economy. This was pointed out in a previous commentary from March of last year, and recently echoed by noted energy expert, Chris Martenson. After studying global economic data, Martenson was unequivocal: “without growth in oil consumption, GDP doesn’t advance.”

This is reinforced by data from the U.S. government showing less and less people working every month – in a chart now familiar to all regular readers. It’s reinforced by data showing U.S. retailers selling less and less goods every month (in this consumer economy).

Industrialized economies do not grow without increased oil demand. Consumer economies do not grow without selling more goods. And no economy of any kind can grow when there are less and less people working.

Read more: The U.S. Energy-Independence Fantasy, Part I: Demand