Reply #21: THE REAL COST OF GAS - International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA):

[JohnWxy]

http://www.iags.org/costofoil.html

go to bottom of page and click on:

International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA): The Real Price Of Gas
This is a very long article so I just pasted the summary value for the low estimate of the price of gasoline. Basicallly, we subsidize the oil industry with tax breaks and what's called program subsidies. This cost of gas doesn't show up on the pump at the station but it is covered in your taxes. Figure about $2 to $3.00 per gallon of gas you use (this is without figuring in the cost of the Iraq war (did you think we went to Iraq to bring democracy to the Iraqees, or to find WMDs, or catch al Kaedas or Osama?}.

THE REAL PRICE OF GASOLINE

Low estimate: $5.60/gallon
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some estimates of the true price of gas are higher than $5.60 a gallon.

NOte this estimate was done in 1997 when the nominal cost of gas at the pump was less than it is now. So the final figure, now would be above $5.60 a gallon. In Europe they pay a LOT more for gas than we do. That's because they do not subsidize gas production nearly as much as we do.

NOte that this estimate was done BEFORE we went into IRAQ (you don't think we'd be worried about Iraqee democracy if there was no huge oil deposits under it do you?). Iraq is going to cost north of $400 Billion and more than 3,000 lives lost before we are out of there.

More and more people are sick of buying oil from those who would cheerfully kill us (and do kill us), given the chance. For these people, even if there was no cost advantage to home grown, GHG reducing ethanol it would still be worth it. There is a national energy security issue involved here.