A new Set America Free brief by Milton Copulos. A few numbers from the brief:
Cost of oil-related defense expenditures: $137 billion in 2006.
Economic toll of periodic oil supply disruptions over the past three decades: between $2.3 trillion and $2.5 trillion.
Bottom line:
“The grand total of all oil-related external or “hidden†costs stands on $825 billion per year. This total is nearly twice the figure authorized for the Department of Defense in 2006. To put the figure in further perspective, it is equivalent to adding $8.35 to the
price of a gallon of gasoline refined from Persian Gulf oil, making the cost of filling the gasoline tank of a sedan $214, and of an SUV $321.”
UPDATE: Read a New York Times interview with Milton Copulos (reprinted in the IHT)