‘When war breaks out in the Middle East, my wallet starts hurting!’ A lot of people don’t get it: the Middle East is at war, so why are Japan, South Korea, and India—countries thousands of miles away—the first to feel the pain? The answer lies in one number: according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), 84% of the crude oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz flows to Asia! To put it simply: if the Middle East’s oil pipeline blows up, over 80% of the pain will be borne by Asia. The Middle East may seem far from Asia, but that pipeline, which carries 20 million barrels of oil every day, has tightly bound Asia’s economic lifeline to the Persian Gulf. If the pipeline shakes: Asian factories lose power, ports shut down, prices skyrocket, and stock markets tumble. Starting this week, this will show up in oil prices, living costs, and mutual funds and stocks—line by line, for everyone to see. Don’t wait until your cost of living shoots up to realize what’s happening. If that oil pipeline blows up, it’s going to hurt every single ordinary person.