Is it possible that the high price of gas is partly due to the demand of illegal aliens? There are those who are (foolishly) calling for a boycott of ExxonMobil and others calling for a boycott of Shell with the idea of starting a price war. As has been documented on other sites, a boycott will have no effect as the other companies will experience increased demand. The only way to lower prices this way is to reduce overall demand.
Ways to decrease overall demand include:
- Conservation
- Reducing the miles you drive
- Driving a more fuel efficient car (leaving the SUV at home)
- Using public transportation
- Carpooling, and so on.
Rationing gasoline is yet another way to control demand, basically allotting a maximum quantity to each licensed driver or car. The problem with that is that a black market is sure to pop up immediately with prices far above the current prices.
Another way to reduce the price of gasoline is to reduce the number of drivers consuming gasoline. This makes me wonder, how much gasoline do illegal aliens consume?
According to Howstuffworks.com, each household uses an average of 4 gallons of gasoline per day. According to the US Census Bureau, the average household size in the US (in 2004) is 2.6 persons. The average household size for “Hispanic or Latino (of any race)” families is 4 persons. Just to be extremely conservative, let’s say that the average household size for an illegal alien family is ten, taking into account that not all illegal alien families have a car. Let’s also say that each household has 1 car. Finally, let’s estimate a total of ten million illegal aliens.
That means there are (at least) one millions cars being operated by illegal aliens consuming at least four million gallons of gas each day.
A gasoline tanker truck can carry up to 10,000 gallons of gasoline. So the usage by illegal aliens represents 400 loaded tanker trucks of gasoline, each day.
The above is merely an example and the actual usage can vary wildly form these estimates. I have tried to estimate conservatively and believe that the actual daily usage is much higher.
Links:
Where Does My Gasoline Come From ? – US Government
How much gasoline does the United States consume in one year? – How Stuff Works
Census - Factsheets
Energy Information – US Government
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