Posted on 08/09/2009 10:06:57 AM PDT by AJKauf
You hear it everywhere you turn.
On street corners, at the water cooler, in advertising … it is everywhere. Get cash now for that worn-out old automobile sitting in your driveway. Even Larry Kudlow, television commentator and a supply-sider if there ever was one, has been extolling the economic healing powers and virtues of the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program.
I can’t blame anybody. Who can argue against a program that is getting old and possibly dangerous automobiles off the road and putting Americans into more fuel-efficient, safer, new automobiles? Even members of my own family have taken advantage of this program in the last week.
But guess what, folks — there is a reason why this program seems to be more popular, more successful, and more economically stimulating than almost any other idea that has been put in place by Washington.
Simply put: we have put the American people back in charge of the purse strings. The liberals in Washington who voted for Cash for Clunkers might have proven their own policies of massive, wasteful, earmark-ridden budgets filled with liberal pet projects don’t actually lead down the yellow brick road of economic recovery.
Their “stimulus” hasn’t been stimulating. What works? Allowing the American people to make their own choices with their own tax money.
Sounds like the Republican proposals for a stimulus based on tax cuts, doesn’t it?..
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
I have a 1996 Dodge Caravan that I got 3 years ago at an auction for $250.00. The body was in good shape, but it had a blown (connecting rod thru block and shot tranny clutches and front pump) 3.3 V-6 engine and transmission. I am an excellent mechanic, and I rebuilt the drivetrain with parts from a U-Pull It junkyard, and necessary new parts like clutch packs and main and rod bearings, rings, cylinder head reconditioning, etc. It gost me $900.00 in parts. I have put 55,000 miles on it.
The engine is perfectly tuned. I have driven it back and forth from my home in Georgia to Chicago 10 times. With the tires inflated to 32 lbs, and the cruise control set to 74 mph, this 5000 lb vehicle gets 28-30 mpg on level ground.
I did the same thing to a 1998 Dodge Intrepid, had to rebuild the powertrain also, 3.5 V-6 engine, got it 4 years ago, and IT gets 36 mpg at 75 mph on cruise control on level ground. It cost 875.00 in parts. I have put 60,000 miles on it.
The Obama admin HATES people like me I bet. I intend to keep my clunkers a bit longer.
I propose that we pay for the CARS program by increasing the income tax by 1% of everyone who received a gov’t rebate until they have paid back the money.
We borrow money from China.
We use that money to DESTROY property, in the United States.
The property that is destroyed will result in higher prices for used parts.
The property that is destroyed will result in higher prices for used cars.
The production of NEW vehicles, caused by this program, will use far more energy, and create far more real pollution, than any small benefit gained by increasing the MPG of the American fleet.
Again, dumb program designed by really stupid or really selfish people!
I wonder how many buyers will be shopping when this giveaway ends. I believe the showrooms will be empty.
If this article goes where it sounds like its going its stoopid.
This program is taxpayer robbery, subsidizing foreign car companies, distorting the market..
there is nothing conservative about it.
the feeling will be mutual no doubt. His brilliant idea will most likely make your work to find spare parts that much harder.
Rush made a similar observation a few weeks back on the subject, despite its obvious flaws.... the idea that the PEOPLE have CONTROL of THIER money can easily and quickly end this thing in a hertbeat.
Based on every sound principle of free market economics this program is wrong. It takes money from some people and gives it to others to buy a car. It promotes an artificial jump in auto sales that will seriously damage the auto industry in the long run. It creates debt among people who would likely have not traded in their cars and borrowed to buy a new one. It takes cars that would have been affordable to lower income people and smashes them into scrap metal, creating an artificial low supply of good used cars which will mean poor people will have to pay more for used cars in the coming years.
Very poor stewardship of resources.
lol! my 15 year old Crown Vic wont qualify....how do i get my money...
The problem is that all its really doing is paying people to get rid of cars that they would have gotten rid of anyway at a slower pace. It's also front-shifting demand forward. The cars sold today would have been sold anyway, a few months or years from now.
We're spending BILLIONS of dollars to get rid of cars that would have disappeared anyway and to entice people to buy cars a few months sooner than they would have.
It's also eliminating hundreds of thousands of quality vehicles from the used marketplace, thus depriving many people of a chance to get affordable transportation.
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