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August 9, 2005
Food for Thought: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
Not that I really care about the gas price since there is nothing I can do about it, but here are some fun stats. And no, these aren't directed at Republicans or Democrats, these are administration independant.
The Department of Energy estimates that each $1 billion of trade deficit costs America 27,000 jobs. For comparison, trade deficit for Q1 2005 was $195.1 billion. So that only cost us 5,265,000 potential jobs in theory.
According to the National Defense Council Foundation, the economic penalties of America's oil dependence total $297.2 to $304.9 billion annually. If reflected at the gasoline pump, these “hidden costs” would raise the price of a gallon of gasoline to over $5.28. (iags.org)
Securing fuel in the middle east and elsewhere cost us more than $7 trillion present value dollars over the last 30 years. That is more than the cost of every war from the revolutionary war to the present. (Dept of Energy)
On the flip side, every SUV we don't buy puts GM and Ford deeper into debt and costs jobs as well. Plus every gallon of gas we don't buy hurts US oil companies. Finally, without the need to secure oil overseas, Woneywell wouldn't neeed to make some of its products, which would destroy jobs in MN.
Posted by bond0072 at August 9, 2005 2:39 PM