I just had to post this somewhere..........!

D

D R Greysun

Guest
Soooooo, Anyone dispute the numbers here? (not my text)

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 clunker 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 ¼ of one day's US consumption.

And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $75/bbl.

So, we all contributed to spending *$3 billion* to save $350 million. How good a deal was that ???

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

D R
 
But it made the politicians "feel good" which is far more important than having them do something that actually IS good. Next thing you guys are going to want them to read the bills before they vote for them, and follow the laws that they pass on the rest of us. WHAT NERVE!
 
While I'm not a fan of the "cash for clunkers" program, according to the numbers above the annual rate of return on the $3B is almost 12% (i.e., $3B wasn't spent to save $350M, but to save $350M per year, and the rate of return would be even higher if oil gets more expensive). So, is that a good deal? 12% is a lot better than the return on my 401(k) over the past few years. ;)

Toby Bradshaw
baywingdb@comcast.net
 
tobybradshaw said:
While I'm not a fan of the "cash for clunkers" program, according to the numbers above the annual rate of return on the $3B is almost 12% (i.e., $3B wasn't spent to save $350M, but to save $350M per year, and the rate of return would be even higher if oil gets more expensive). So, is that a good deal? 12% is a lot better than the return on my 401(k) over the past few years. ;)

Toby Bradshaw
baywingdb@comcast.net
Click to expand...

How many years for the $350m to equal the $3b ?

I did the math a few years back. I still own the same pair of -PAID FOR- 15 mpg 'clunkers'.
 
Cash for Clunkers

Has anyone considered that the money, $3500 to $4500, that was awarded to the buyer through you is going to be counted as taxable income on your income return for that year?

:mad:
 
crb said:
How many years for the $350m to equal the $3b ?
Click to expand...

Just over 10 years at the current prime rate of 3.25% and oil price of $75/bbl.

It would take longer to pay off if interest rates go up, and less time if gas prices go up.

[Of course, unlike a conventional loan where the borrower and the lender get benefits from the loan, in the "cash for clunkers" scheme the lender (taxpayers) gets no direct benefit. Only the borrowers benefit directly, by saving on fuel costs and by the cash payment up front. So treating the $3B as a loan being "repaid" by $350M/yr in fuel savings is probably a poor analogy in the first place.]

Toby Bradshaw
baywingdb@comcast.net
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Don't forget the increased pollution produced in manufacturing the new cars. The ones that were destroyed had already produced pollution in their manufacturing which was spread over a much shorter time frame by ruining perfectly good running cars. As usual the politicians let their emotions get in the way of looking at the facts before legislating a bill. Also, since they had to ruin the engines on the trade-ins before hauling them away each and every car traded in hand to be hauled on a single car carrier. Without a working engine they could not get them on multi-car carriers. I wonder how much extra gas that cost.
 
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