Posted on 08/03/2009 8:45:11 AM PDT by StopBigGovt
Cash for Clunkers is a success! Obama said so! Our economy is on the quick road to recovery, right?
Switch back to reality. The U.S. economy is like a small flame on a campfire, flickering and striving to light up the dark. The U.S. Congress, in its 'wisdom,' is not addressing the fundamentals of the economy. No, they are not conscientiously building up the woodpile underneath the flame to make it a roaring fire and strong economy. Sad to say, they are merely throwing gasoline on the flame, hoping that it will ignite the economy's recovery.
...Lest we forget, the CARS program took a huge amount of money from all American taxpayers, and spread it around to a relatively small number of car shoppers. The hope? To reinvigorate the auto industry and the economy. The change? Getting more fuel-efficient cars on the road in America. But at what cost?
Does anyone have an idea if the number of used cars removed from the market will have an effect on the price of used cars in general?
What it means is that every jalopy, no matter how beat up, is currently worth $4500. That means no poor person can afford a car.
It also means that every new car will be selling at some amount over book price, recovering some of the windfall money.
What a scam. I wonder how long they can promote these ponzi schemes.
What a crock! Just about the time the Government refuses to pay the dealer the $4500 because of some bureaucratic snafu, as promised, the dealer will attempt to recover the new car and the old clunker will have been disabled.
What a “Charlie Foxtrot”
over the weekend I heard McCain was planning to try and filibuster this in the Senate. Who knows, the old coot may be good for something after all...
Our economy hit the wall because of debt! We’re in the midst of the largest ‘debt deflation’ since 1929 (300+%). And the solution from TPTB is for the consumer to incur more debt?
What a bunch of maroons! What a gull a bull!
Debt is slavery. That much the Marxists understand!
I’ve seen video clips of perfectly good cars being destroyed. This is insane...and the Messiah calls it a success?
The government is buying a product, and destroying it.
This will surely throw off used car prices...and reduce the numbers on dealer lots (where some make the most money!)
With all due respect, I'm not sure this is accurate. Congress has yet to raise taxes on the American People to any significant degree. So... this money was borrowed from bond buyers (that's Wall Street Code Talk for the Chinese). The tax payers are on the hook for the future repayment...
April,
Think about it. When Congress passes bills to spend money on any program, that money which is borrowed from the Chinese, the Russians, the Japanese, etc. is eventually paid by us, the taxpayers. Think of all the taxes we pay (property tax, income tax, etc.) As a nation, we’re spending money we don’t have—just take a look at our massive deficit. Our government officials know they’re spending too much money, and economists have recently noted that the massive spending is unsustainable.
Yes, the money to finance the U.S.’s spending is borrowed from bond buyers. This link from the US Treasury shows who owns our debt. http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt It’s not just the Chinese.
If the U.S. Senate votes to grant $2 billion more to the CARS program this week, that will be a total of $3 billion spent boosting the auto industry through that program. The initial $1 billion funding for the CARS program lasted one week. How long will $2 billion more for CARS last? Two weeks?
As small businesses struggle along, they see the U.S. government bailing out big banks, and ‘too big to fail’ GM and Chrysler, not to mention AIG.
As far as Congress raising taxes, please look on the internet to see the story on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner saying he can’t rule out raising taxes on the middle class.
When will Congress deem enough money has been spent to “save” the economy? Because all this spending seems to point to a feeble so-called recovery. If Dr. Doom is right in forecasting a recovery by the end of this year and a possible second recession in late 2010 or 2011, it’s going to be a long, hard road.
Agreed! The endless ‘credit card’ spending by the federal government is a good way to put it. I agree that all the government spending isn’t good for the dollar, but because so many countries have invested heavily in it, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. There are a lot of countries that have some ‘skin’ in the game (dollar). I do think we’re going to see a lot of inflation as a result of the irresponsible fiscal policy here in the U.S.
China has already told the U.S. to stop spending so much money. As investors develop more appetite for risk, I would imagine that the U.S. will need to offer a better interest rate on its debt with bonds, Treasuries etc. Once that happens, financing our debt will get more expensive.
I’m sure some of the world is laughing at us, but if we Americans make our voices heard to our Representatives and Senators, we the people may have the last laugh. 2010 — not that far away!
Kelly
It’s all in the name of being better stewards of the earth — right? :)
You’re right, it is insane. The government is reaching its hands into our pockets and deciding to spend our money on a relatively small number of people who will trade in their ‘clunker’ to be scrapped for a rebate off an ‘efficient’ auto.
I’m sure there are some perfectly good cars being destroyed. There are some people that don’t drive that much and have what the government defines as an ‘inefficient’ vehicle. And some cars last a really long time if you maintain them well, regardless of whether they qualify as ‘efficient’ under the CARS program.
As far as the economics of CARS, Jeffrey Miron posted a great editorial on CNN today. Here’s the link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/03/miron.clunkers/index.html
As many Americans have complained, our government continues to try and pick winners and losers as the Great Recession continues. Doing so goes against how the free market works. I know I don’t like the way my tax dollars are being spent by Congress.
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