Its was all our Asphalt!

As the demand for gasoline has increased so has the refineries ability to make the most out of every barrel of crude oil.

This improved productivity has reduced the amount of sludge or tailings which in part is used for making Asphalt.

Yes, that black gooey stuff that we use for paving our streets, roads and highways. Need more be said?

But that isn't all as it seems while we in the US have been sleeping and Embracing Diversity foreign entities have been quietly buying our major gravel quarries, cement suppliers and Ready-Mix concrete companies like crazy.

Who is that you ask? Why it includes our friends at CEMEX Worldwide who are based in . . . Mexico. http://www.cemex.com/

Don't look now but they are closer than you might think.

United States Cement Plants

14 Cement Production Capacity (mmt/year)

15.4 Cement Plants (minority participation)

4 Ready-Mix Plants

552 Aggregate Quarries

130 Land Distribution Centers

40 Marine Terminals

Data as of December 31, 2007

So lets keep hiring Pedro and Jose to mow our lawns, paint and roof our homes as what you have been paying them has been feeding Mexico and helping the folks like Cemex build their empire.

Now what are we going to do but pay big as I hear that Cemex is soon to raise prices astronomical amounts?