<DrumBeat: July 11, 2008The Oil DrumA gas supply disruption case study - the Varanus Island explosion>

169 comments on What fraction of America's $4+ gallon gasoline is due to the war in Iraq?

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fordprefect on July 11, 2008 - 11:18am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

your miss is that the 440,000,000 gallons is per day, and the 650 billion is per year.

That gives us 160 billion gallons per year, which would in theory be $2/gallon. That's a big number, except that it's a total lie. Taking the military cost and laying it off against the gasoline fraction of only us oil imports is bogus. The US imports are primarily from mexico and canada, so stabilizing the ME is not really about protecting "our" oil, it's about protecting world oil. Without which, I would point out, the world economy would have collapsed decades ago. Not only that, but far less than half of the US military budget is spent on middle eastern adventures. Roughly half the military budget is spent on benefits for RETIRED soldiers, the ME represents maybe 1/4.

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Name on July 11, 2008 - 12:41pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I like reading the Oil Drum on lunch break, but I fear this is only going to get worse and worse until the election passes.

Ceterus paribus assumption taken too far: No accounting for increased demand from other parts of the world.

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