TPS Tire Service Center: CLUNKER MATH

TPS Tire Service Center: CLUNKER MATH

CLUNKER MATH

The person who calculated this bit of information is now and has been a professor at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown for the last forty years. 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 of gas a year. So the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce the gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. The government claims 700,000 clunkers have been replaced so that's 224 million gallons saved per year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil. 5 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, our government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.

We spent $8.57 for every $1.00 we saved. I'm pretty sure they will do a better job with our health care, though.