Did anyone run the numbers?

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 "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 / year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil. 5 million barrels of oil is about 1/5 of one day's US consumption. And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $70/barrel

So, we all contributed to spending $3 billion to save $350 million. This means spend approximately $8 to save $1.

Even if the numbers are off by 50% how good a deal was that?

They'll probably do a great job with health care though!!