Oil Addictions
Is it those large American SUV's, monster size trucks, or the high performance sports cars that are wasting fuel and driving up gas prices in the U.S.?
The president says that we need to break our addiction to oil. It is often pointed out that gasoline overseas costs much more than it does in the U.S., and many countries have much more fuel efficient vehicles to cope with it.
Well, there is one country where gasoline is still a bargain. Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, gas there was costing five cents a gallon. It is about fifty cents a gallon right now. You might think that is because Iraq has it's own oil supply, but that is not the case. Currently Iraq imports 200,000 barrels of refined petroleum products each day. That's right, 200,000 times 42 gallons per barrel means they import 8,400,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel per day! That two hundred fifty two million gallons of fuel per month is purchased with U.S. taxpayer dollars and sold, at a loss, to Iraqis. The cost to us is aproximately two hundred to two hundred fifty million dollars per month, or three billion dollars per year. That doesn't count the extra money we pay at the pump as demand drives our prices up at home.
Now does anyone want to doubt that the war effort in Iraq is responsible for increased gas prices here?
Source: Gas prices, discontent rising in Iraq, The Washington Times, April 10, 2006
Nunya [7:59 AM]