"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
Clunker Math (from a friend in Dallas)...
>
> A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year
> of gasoline.
>
> A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.
> So, the average best-case clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline
> consumption by 800 - 480 = 320 gallons per year.
>
> It is claimed that 700,000 vehicles were traded in, so that's 0.7M *
> 320 = 224 million gallons / year.
>
> That requires a little over 5 million barrels of oil to produce.
>
> In one year we thus save 5 million barrels of oil, which is about ¼ of
> one day's US consumption
>
> (see
>
formatting link
>
> 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at
> $75/barrel.
>
> So, we all contributed to spending $3 billion plus administration
> costs, to save $350 million.
>
> This is not 350 million a year because a clunker life expectancy would
> not be very long anyway.
>
> Most barely made it to the dealer!
>
> Further, what many now save on gas costs will probably only mean that
> they will drive farther.
>
> I guess success is all about political performance and mileage, not
> saving gas or handling recession.
>
> ...Jim Thompson
Silly me, I thought it was a payoff to the UAW. Mike