What's the cost of oil per Bbl? I mean, the real cost?

[Jackpine Radical]

Oil is currently being traded at somewhere north of $60/bbl. I don't know today's exact figure, and it doesn't much matter for present purposes. Let's say oil is $60. But that's not the true economic price a US citizen pays for that bbl. We import about 10 million bbl/day, or 3.65 billion bbl/year. We have to maintain a huge military in order to guarantee the reliability of the flow. Again in round numbers, our total defense budget is at least 625 billion per year. Let us generously assume that only half that defense budget actually goes to maintaining the oil flow. Using these numbers, it would seem that each bbl of imported oil costs us an additional $85 or so in military expenditures. More if you include all sorts of hidden military budget items.

The cost of a bbl of oil is not the $60 or so we think it is. The real cost is more like $145.
When you factor in this hidden cost, alternative energy suddenly appears much more affordable.

[whatelseisnew]

1. Additional costs in health care and climate change are more difficult to calculate

That shit is toxic

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Oh, yes.

I'm quite aware that my numbers are a gross underestimate of the real situation. I did it that way deliberately; the real cost of that bbl of oil may be 3 or 10 times greater than we think, when everything is factored in. What about the ultimate costs of global warming, for example.

[Parisle]

2. This is an excellent point, JR

--- So much so that I wish I'd thought of it, myself. Good one. You could take it a step further by factoring in environmental considerations, though that would be a more difficult calculation. Then there's those 3,300+ lost lives,.. hundreds of thousands on the Iraqi side,... lost prestige & respect in the world,... our own political and economic disarray,.... We seem to be killing ourselves over oil, eh? Rec.

[whatelseisnew]

4. I've been hearing this for years from the far left loonies.

It always made sense to me.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Well, hell, MOST things the FLLs say make sense.

That's what makes them FLLs.