Cash for Golf Carts

At least one group of needy Americans is getting timely government assistance during this recession – golf cart purchasers:

We thought cash for clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic. Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama’s stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart.

The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart. Even in states that don’t have their own tax rebate plans, the federal credit is generous enough to pay for half or even two-thirds of the average sticker price of a cart, which is typically in the range of $8,000 to $10,000. “The purchase of some models could be absolutely free,” Roger Gaddis of Ada Electric Cars in Oklahoma said earlier this year. “Is that about the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?”

The golf-cart boom has followed an IRS ruling that golf carts qualify for the electric-car credit as long as they are also road worthy. These qualifying golf carts are essentially the same as normal golf carts save for adding some safety features, such as side and rearview mirrors and three-point seat belts. They typically can go 15 to 25 miles per hour.

The golf cart subsidies are a small but telling example of how interest groups can exploit the growth of government during crises for their own benefit, an issue I discussed in this series of posts, which also notes other dangers created by the expansion of government power in a crisis atmosphere.

Ultimately, giving money to consumers is related to Obama's class warfare. It is the standard Marxist idea of taking from the rich to give to the poor. It presumes (ala Michelle) that there is a fixed pie from which we all eat. It does not take into account that an economy is a "dynamic" thing.

Taking some of the pie from the Rich to share with the poor fails to take into account that the goods/wealth of a nation are produced and consumed in an ever changing process. What Obama see as a single PIE is consumed in one day or one week...it must be replenished and those who accomplish the replenishing are what he mistaken defines as the enemy (the enemy of the poor).

Taking the means of production away from those who produce (in the name of fairness) exerts a negative influence on the production of "pie".

IT DOESN'T WORK!!!

Imagine a small village living in the wilderness in ancient times. There are the productive citizens who support life in the village and there are those who live on the kindness of the productive citizens (the children, the infirm, the elderly). All goods come from those who farm, hunt, and process products derived therefrom.

In Obamas mind, if the products are taken from the farmers, hunters, and processors and given to those who are unproductive, it will somehow encourage the productive element of society to work harder and produce more goods.

It doesn't. It creates neither new demand nor new supply. Just as Cash For Clunkers filled the showrooms during its operative period only to leave those same showrooms completely empty of buyers upon its expiration.

Taking from the productive part of society to give to the unproductive part (or taking from the MORE PRODUCTIVE part to spread goods to the LESS PRODUCTIVE) only has the effect of depriving the MORE PRODUCTIVE citizens of the fruits of their labor which were needed to continue in their effort.

It's exactly like taking working capital from a company...the effect is the company is weaker and its productive capacity is reduced. When the hunters, farmers, and goods processors are weakened, the whole village is weaker. And in the end, there is a decline in what is available for all.

In the name of fairness, so deceptively pleasing to the poor and kindhearted, this "gilded and perfumed but inwardly rotten nobility" seeks to gather praise but will only destroy what others have built.

Obama again demonstrates that "with peace (or in this case under the guise of "fairness"), he shall destroy" much. (Dan 8:25)

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