By that same logic, most of the plastics you buy are heavily subsidized, since the raw materials are from the subsidized oil industry, the oil industry is protected by the military, and their production causes pollution.
Is that supposed to be a modus tollens or a modus ponens?
When they heavily subsidize bicycles or living close to your workplace, I'll less of a problem with subsidizing more of the vehicles that pollute my environment and threaten my life.
Mind sharing the links you found relating to the $8 subsidy?
This site claims the true cost of gas is $15.40:
http://www.progress.org/gasoline.htm
This article at $12.75 from May 2011:
http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/05/increasing-gas-prices-su...
Subtracting the $4 price of gas is what brought me to $8, conservatively. To be fair, some of the price paid at the pump is tax, but according to the previously linked wikipedia article that's 12%, so $0.48 for a $4 gallon.
I've seen some people saying that these subsidies are unfair, but the US government heavily subsidizes gas too.
Some very rough calculations put the average gas subsidies paid by the US government around $4350 per driver per year.
I dislike subsidies in general, but it's too bad the credit will phase out sooner rather than later. Getting plug-in electrics on the road will save the US tons of money on gas subsidies.
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1.49 gallons/driver/day * 365 days * $8/gallon subsidy = $4350.8/driver/year
Gallons/day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_and_diesel_usage_and_p...
Using an $8 subsidy based on some quick googling, which places the true cost of gas in the US from $12-$15/gallon. Assuming an average price of $4/gallon, that puts a conservative estimate of the subsidy per gallon around $8.
Federal credit phase out info: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Plug-In-Electric-Vehicle-Credi...