Post from Red State. (H/T Babalu Blog via ECM)
Excerpt:
A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year.
A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons a year.
So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.
They claim 700,000 vehicles, so that’s 224 million gallons saved per year.
That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
Five million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption.
More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars.
So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.
We spent $8.57 to for every dollar saved.
How good a deal was that ???
They’ll probably do a great job with health care though!!
But at least they’re nice people, and so generous with other people’s money.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
Don’t forget that they’re saving the planet from global warming, too. You gotta factor that in, and then it’s a net plus.
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Not to mention the cost of dealing with all of the waste created from discarding used vehicles before their time is up. No doubt most of these vehicles had several years of life left in them.
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interesting numbers! I was annoyed when this program first came out, now even more so!
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Wintery, I think this might be one of the first posts you’ve made in which I think you have a good point. Of course, the objectives of the “cash for clunkers” program was not to save/buy oil, as you imply. The point was to give stimulus to the domestic auto industry – which it did. It was sold as a program with the added bonus of having a beneficial effect on the environment. I find this claim dubious because although Drew is correct to point out that greenhouse gas emissions from automobile use may have decreased, I figure the waste/consumption pointed out by Andrew far outweighs the 5 million barrels of oil (or whatever number it may be when all details are double checked.)
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