'Cash for Clunkers' Going Broke (shutting down Thursday night)

Politico ^ | July 30, 2009 8:44 PM | Staff

[GOPJ]

If the money was averaged out among all US car dealers - each dealer would be able to offer 12 clunker grants. Yep - twelve.

I wonder if any of these marks - oops, I mean "dealers" took in more than 12 clunkers...

[ncfool]

Being shipped overseas to his cousin Raila Odinga who will use them in Kenya.

Raila controls the auto market in Kenya and send it back to Hussein in the form of cash to Obama’s 2012 campaign.

[Ipberg]

Allowing Democrats run of the White House and Capitol Hill is a guaranteed plan for massive gov spending, corruption and mismanagement.

[NonValueAdded]

One thing I heard on the radio today was that dealers were making folks sign a statement saying that if the dealer didn’t get paid from the government that the buyer was on the hook for the amount.

Whoa, that's gonna leave a mark.

[NonValueAdded]

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."

And tell us, Candy, what metric do you use to call that a complete success? That they ripped through a billion dollars? They only started registering dealers last Friday, right? The metrics can't possibly be in yet and you have no clue if the money aided Detroit or Tokyo.

[RatsDawg]

Epic Government Fail.

if they can spend 1 billion dollars in 4 days on cars. Just think of how fast they can spend 1 Trillion dollars on Health Care!

[steve86]

I was sick when I learned the dealer had to ruin the perfectly good engine that had maybe 5,000 miles on it

You have blood or antifreeze on your hands.

[Colorado Cowgirl]

I heard there are about 20,000 dealerships offering this program, so after selling 12.5 cars each, they have reached their limit. I think some dealers are going to eat some big losses.

[RatsDawg]

Rep. Pete Hoekstra wrote on his facebook a few hours ago that he got word that the program indeed sold over 200,000 cars in under a week.

[fso301]

Rep. Pete Hoekstra wrote on his facebook a few hours ago that he got word that the program indeed sold over 200,000 cars in under a week.

Per Drudge the program did ~$98 million which divided by an average of $4K per vehicle would result in trade-in's of 24,500 vehicles.

[libbylu]

FNC did a thing, went to where they were mashing cars. They take off the tires,pull out the engine. They pour something on the engine to make sure they will never work again. crush the bodies. No exceptions.

[RatsDawg]

This is what Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) posted on Facebook and Twitter a few hours ago.

“Cash for clunkers appears to have generated sales of over 200000 in less than 1 week. There are questions on program but overall positive.”

[RatsDawg]

I hate to say that Republican Hoekstra was giddy about it too tonight.

[RatsDawg]

Well if they really did take 200,500 + cars, and only sent out enough money for 24,500 cars, then we have a big mess on our hands.

[Brimack34]

Once again charities and the poor get screwed by liberals.

[StarCMC]

And some people think these idiots can run health care?
What a freaking JOKE!!

[VeniVidiVici]

What’s going to happen next will be worse than what it was supposed to help.

So they’ve suspended the program after a week. What happens next? NOBODY will buy a car until they start the program back up again. Knowing congress that could take awhile.

[fso301]

Well if they really did take 200,500 + cars, and only sent out enough money for 24,500 cars, then we have a big mess on our hands.

From the Drudge linked article:

Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns of large backlogs in the system, prompting the suspension.

Article Here

[doosee]

I got 4500 for a 94 Suburban last night. Got a Prius for my long distance drives. I may have been one of the last trades made according to the dealer at 10 PM.

[EVO X]

But why should someone trading an 18mpg car for a 25mpg car get a $4500 subsidy, while someone trading a 20mpg car for a 30mpg car gets nothing?

This is what government does. It takes money from some people and gives it to others for no good reason.