Presidential Math: Cash for Clunkers
Spent $3 Billion to Save $375 Million

Today, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) released calculations that show the
economic failure of the “Cash for Clunkers” government sponsored program.

ATR President Grover Norquist said, “This is nothing more than the President
using the guise of ‘green energy’ to cover-up yet another massive multi-
billion dollar spending project. When are these people going to learn
throwing money at the economy is not the answer?”

The analysis on the “Cash for Clunkers” program is below and can also be found
on the web at www.atr.org.

o A “clunker” that gets 15mpg and travels 12,000 miles per year, consumes
800 gallons of gasoline per year

o A new “fuel-efficient” vehicle that gets 25mpg and travels 12,000 miles per
year, consumes 480 gallons of gasoline per year

o The average clunker transaction reduces US gasoline consumption by 320
gallons/year

o With 700,000 vehicles participating in this program, that’s 224 million
gallons/year saved because of this program – roughly 5 million barrels of
oil/year

o 5 million barrels costs about $375 million at $75/barrel

o The “Cash for Clunkers” costs $3 billion

Congratulations President Obama, Speaker Pelosi
and Leader Reid – you spent $3 billion of taxpayer
money to save $375 million!