Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'Cash for Clunkers' Going Broke (shutting down Thursday night)
Politico ^ | July 30, 2009 8:44 PM | Staff

Posted on 07/30/2009 6:09:39 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay

The Obama administration is telling lawmakers that its much-touted "cash-for-clunkers" program is already running out of money and will be suspended Thursday night, according to three Senate aides familiar with the discussions.

The program — aimed at giving at boost to the U.S. auto industry — was supposed to expire at the end of October. But in the one week since it took effect, it appears to have run dry of the $1 billion allocated to it, aides said Thursday.

The White House will need to decide whether to push for more money at a time when it's also pushing an ambitious and expensive domestic agenda — or let the program fade after it was touted as a way to help Detroit while improving the environment.

One Michigan Republican, Congresswoman Candice Miller, has already come out in favor of extending the program, saying in a statement that “There can be no doubt that the Cash for Clunkers program is a complete success given the fact that the entire $1 billion allocated to the program was expended in less than a week."

She called the program "simply the most stimulative $1 billion the federal government has spent during the entire economic downturn."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also called the program a victim of its own success in a statement issued Thursday night: "This was a very successful program, maybe even too successful. The program should continue, but perhaps with a tune-up so that we get the most stimulus, conservation and efficiency for the buck."

White House aides were not immediately available for comment. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administers the program, but no one was available for comment Thursday evening.

Last Friday, registration began for dealers who wanted to participate in the program, which is intended to encourage consumers to trade in their old cars for a credit program to purchase new fuel efficient cars. Under the rules that went into effect last week, the purchased vehicles must be 2008, 2009 or 2010 models, and the vehicles must be purchased between July and November to qualify. And consumers would be able to receive a $3,500-$4,500 discount from car dealerships when they trade in their old vehicles and purchase a new one.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bhodot; cashforclunkers; clunkers; commiesareclunkers; congress; vehicularhomicide
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-113 next last
To: RedhairRedhair

If the car is candy apple red I would be ashamed.


61 posted on 07/30/2009 7:19:35 PM PDT by LukeL (Yasser Arafat: "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: ncfool

” Say no to Obama care as its another Cash for Clunkers program. “

Cue Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
“Bring out yer dead, bring out yer dead..”
“I’m not dead yet”
“I know, but ‘e won’t be back for another week.” (bonk).


62 posted on 07/30/2009 7:20:56 PM PDT by Humble Servant (See y'all in the Gulag.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: RedhairRedhair
You traded in a 69 Camaro that they will destroy? Please tell me it was a rust bucket.

I'm looking at buying a 2010 Camaro, but I have to get the V-6 in order to use the Cash For Clunkers money. Turning in an old S-10 P/U.

63 posted on 07/30/2009 7:21:50 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (There is nothing wrong with the Government that 552 bullets couldn't cure...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: fight_truth_decay

Well jeez louise! If it is working so well, and a LOT of cars are being sold, then allocate a couple of more billion. Cars being sold, people being put back to work. What an idea!


64 posted on 07/30/2009 7:22:07 PM PDT by Enterprise (When they come for your guns and ammo, give them the ammo first.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: autumnraine
What happened to the other $800-Million? This was a funneling scam
from the start. We need a Congress that oversees the Congress.
65 posted on 07/30/2009 7:22:53 PM PDT by MaxMax (Will the real JIM THOMPSON please pick up the white phone)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: fight_truth_decay

How much will we get if we trade in 0bama? Now, there’s a real clunker.


66 posted on 07/30/2009 7:24:06 PM PDT by reg45 (Be calm everyone. The idiot children are in charge!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fso301
‘Just do the math. Assume an average rebate of $4K. One billion divided by $4,000 is 250,000 trade-in’s. Do they mean that in a week or two of the programs existence there were 250,000 trade-in’s?’

Exactly. Do the Math, something is rotten in Denmark (no big surprise with Zero/gov involved).

67 posted on 07/30/2009 7:25:58 PM PDT by edge10 (Obama lied, babies died!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: boop
All the clunkers to qualify have to be destroyed to prevent fraud. Two quarts of sodium silicate solution and run the engine for up to seven minutes.

The "end dollar" can most likely go overseas....

Kinda sad... sensitive really....I think of my vehicles as having had "family" adventures when I trade them in..there is some emotional attachment.

And my new one(not under this program) hit and severely injured a cat (shot out into the road) in the first week!! ...More than you want to know, so off subject!

68 posted on 07/30/2009 7:27:29 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: LukeL

They only made 2 red ones.


69 posted on 07/30/2009 7:29:16 PM PDT by RedhairRedhair (I love my Toyota)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: fight_truth_decay
And consumers would be able to receive a $3,500-$4,500 discount from car dealerships when they trade in their old vehicles and purchase a new one.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Let's see. $1 billion divided by, say, $4,000..........that's 250,000 units! In one week!

You FReepers in the car business. Is that possible?

Or is this one of those government programs where it's costing $10,000 to give away $4,000?

70 posted on 07/30/2009 7:29:33 PM PDT by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance on Parade)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ncfool

You are so correct that the Government can’t get it right on Cash for Clunkers they can’t get it right on something so complex as Healthcare for All.
Wow isn’t the timing great for this to fail.
Now we have something else to point out to our Congresscritters to vote no for National anything!


71 posted on 07/30/2009 7:39:22 PM PDT by mojo114
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: dangerdoc
where is the other $902 million dollars?

"(pending) obligations"

72 posted on 07/30/2009 7:39:26 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: boop
In the Queens borough of New York, Paragon Honda already hauled away nearly 60 clunkers to a junkyard before it found the rules require them to be disabled on the auto lot. Now they have to be brought back, have their engines destroyed and hauled back..... "Killing cars is not something that I'm used to doing," says Brian Benstock, the dealership's general manager
73 posted on 07/30/2009 7:44:04 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Sylvester McMonkey McBean
Was said that the program came buried in so much bureaucracy and paperwork that some dealers gave up on it despite the amazing business it drummed up.
74 posted on 07/30/2009 7:46:35 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Rome2000

She is against the Coca Cola tax


75 posted on 07/30/2009 7:50:54 PM PDT by ncfool (The GEORGE BUSH revolution has finally arrived in Iran! Where is Obama?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: LukeL

Not to mention the energy and pollution created from the ore pit to the showroom floor. Next time you hear a greenie talk about the benefits of hybrids, mention this and watch their head explode.


76 posted on 07/30/2009 7:51:09 PM PDT by 31R1O ("Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."- Immanuel Kant)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Mercat
We just brought home a new car using our clunker.

Congratulations, and happy for you. Now the punk president has to deal with a horde of unhappy taxpayers who didn't get their piece of the pie.

The PR mishaps keep piling up. I am 75% sure the punk will be dumped in 2012 now.

77 posted on 07/30/2009 7:51:13 PM PDT by catfish1957 (Hey algore...You'll have to pry the steering wheel of my 317 HP V8 truck from my cold dead hands)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: MaxMax

Scam yes. The clunkers may be sent overseas.
Heard on some radio show, may be Rush, that a guy had a car that wasn’t working. The salesperson said it had to be working. Why? Because they were shipping overseas.


78 posted on 07/30/2009 7:54:22 PM PDT by mojo114
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: fight_truth_decay
Lots of dealers are going to get screwed - sold cars and “killed cars” and now they're not going to be reimbursed...

And I'd sure like to know where the billions went - who wants to bet cities with large ACORN groups got the money...

79 posted on 07/30/2009 7:55:53 PM PDT by GOPJ (Maldives sea levels have NOT risen in 1250 years -Professor Nils-Axel Moerner)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fso301; STONEWALLS

I traded my dodge ram V8 conversion van on July 2nd. Some dealerships started early. I bought a Toyota RAV. Got 4500 on the van. I’m sure the foreign cars will do better cause they get the most mpg. I would have kept the van but the AC had been broke for several years. It’s in a graveyard in Ohio....RIP my old ‘Beast’


80 posted on 07/30/2009 7:59:25 PM PDT by MadelineZapeezda (Have you girded your loins today??????)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-113 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson