Debt in America – Part 2; Relying too much on gas

It is amazing to me that our elected officials do not see what the economic problems in this country are attributed to.  If you look back 20 years ago the average gasoline price across the US was $1.08.  Today the average gas price is $3.61.  $2.53 per gallon might not seem like the cause of the downfall of the US , but multiple that by the daily gas usage and you will very quickly see where all the money of the hardworking Americans is going.

The total daily gas usage in the US in 2011 is 9.12 million barrels a day.  There are approximately 55 gallons of gas in a barrel which means that Americans consume, on average, 501,000,000 gallons a day.  If the average gallon of gas is about $3.50, we’re spending:

$1.75 billion on gas per day.  That’s $633 billion over the course of the year.

Chip away at that and we start chipping away at our national debt.

Read: Debt in America, Part 1; Now What?

Dan Levenson

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