MORE MATH

This time on cash for clunkers.

A vehicle that gets 15 mpg and travels 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a
year of gasoline.

A vehicle that gets 25 mpg and travels 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a
year.

So, the average "Cash for Clunkers" transaction will reduce
gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

The program involved approximately 700,000 vehicles.

That's 224 million gallons of gasoline saved per year.

That's 5 million barrels of oil saved per year.

5 million barrels of oil is about 25 percent of one day's consumption in America.

5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $70 per barrel.

We spent $3 billion to save $350 million per year. It will take about 9 years for this investment to break even, excluding the interest we are paying to the Chinese.