War/Oil Datapoint of the Day

According to the invaluable CIA

World Factbook, US oil consumption is 20.73 million barrels per day. Which

works out to 7.57 billion barrels per year. At the new

record price of $82.03 per barrel, that would value US oil consumption at

$621 billion per year.

For the 2007 fiscal year, the US

military budget was $532.8 billion, plus an extra-budgetary supplement of

$120 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for a total of $652.8

billion.

At the risk of belaboring the point somewhat, this means that the US government

spends more on the military than the entire value of US oil consumption, public

and private sector combined. Remember that, the next time you hear about how

high oil prices are acting as a drag on the economy.

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