Truth About Cash for Clunkers

Remember that "Cash for Clunkers" program that Congress passed a few years back?
The person who calculated this bit of information is now and has been
a professor at the University of West Virginia for 40 years.

He says: A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800
gallons of gas a year. A new 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 reduced gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per
year, per vehicle.

The government claims 700,000 clunkers were replaced so that is 224
million gallons saved per year (700,000 x 320 gallons). 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 $90 per barrel costs about
$450 million dollars.

The government spent $3 billion on the Cash for Clunkers program or
$4,285 per vehicle to purchase the vehicles and run the program.

So, the government PAID $3 billion of our tax dollars to SAVE $450
million. They spent $6.67 for every $1.00 they saved.