Posted on 08/04/2009 5:33:05 AM PDT by reaganaut1
‘Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedez Benz,” Janice Joplin once warbled. The Lord, presumably, has other things on His mind, but Uncle Sam is happy to pitch in for a new Benz under the incontestably harebrained “Cash for Clunkers” program, which already has run through its first billion dollars and which the solons in Washington may dump more billions into.
Cash for Clunkers was sold as a greenish stimulus for the suffering car-sales business. If your old car is sufficiently thirsty for gasoline, and the new one is sufficiently thrifty, the federal bursary will dispense to you either $3,500 or $4,500 under the program. Which is to say, one set of Americans will be taxed to the tune of several thousand dollars to subsidize the new-car purchases of another set of Americans, on the condition the cars purchased are the sort of cars that the Obama administration and its congressional allies prefer that Americans purchase. The credit is good for cars up to $45,000, meaning that an entry-level Benz qualifies for a federal handout, but the Porsche Cayman is just out of the reach of would-be automotive welfare queens. Your old car goes out to Monster Joe’s Truck and Tow to get mashed — it is not to be resold, though some of it may be recycled.
There are many kinds of stupidity involved in Cash for Clunkers, but let us address the two big ones: environmental stupidity and economic stupidity.
First the environmental issue. Driving cars consumes energy, it is true, and producing that energy leads to pollution, as energy production always does. Cash for Clunkers subsidizes the switch from relatively fuel-inefficient cars to relatively fuel-efficient ones, but driving is not the only energy-consuming activity related to automobiles.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Every Democrat program hurts the poor.
Why not a $4500 “gimme” for everything we buy ?
All this program did is waste taxpayer money and delay car sales that would have happened gradually over the previous year or so, imo.
People just waited for CARS because they knew it was coming. That accounts for the rush in the first week.
Probably not many more cars were sold than would have been sold without CARS.
Why not a tax cut so you can buy what you want?
Suppose that it will cost six francs to repair the damage. . . . The glazier will come, do his job, receive six francs, congratulate himself, and bless in his heart the careless child. That is what is seen. . . . It is not seen that, since our citizen has spent six francs for one thing, he will not be able to spend them for another. It is not seen that if he had not had a windowpane to replace, he would have replaced, for example, his worn-out shoes or added another book to his library. . . . The window having been broken, the glass industry gets six francs’ worth of encouragement; that is what is seen. If the window had not been broken, the shoe industry (or some other) would have received six francs’ worth of encouragement; that is what is not seen.
What we have in Cash for Clunkers is a billion dollars’ worth of newly broken windows.
Video: Cash for Clunkers: How to destroy an engine
Cash for Clunkers Dealers Must Destroy Engines to Prevent Fraud
This program is just another example of a poorly thought out program that does not help the poor.One problem with the Cash for Clunkers program is it takes cheap cars off the street for poor folks. The program clunkeressentially makes every car, no matter the condition, worth $4500.00. By doing so those of modest means cannot find an automobile for a better price. Now with the directive to chemically destroy the vehicles, the reasonably priced used car market is destroyed as well. In addition, this program makes engine car parts scarce because the engines are chemically destroyed.
The editors of National Review are being irresponsible giving nutty liberals more ideas... Shame on them.
Yep, that what my local dealer said, he said the rebate was not sufficient to trigger 'new buys'. It just moved around those buys that were already on the buyers radar for the most part.
It's also worthy of note that not one new employee was hired.
I don’t begrudge any fat cat his due. Why do you hate fat cats? Ever see a dumpster diver increase his staff so he can dive in multiple dumpsters at the same time?
Capitalism, the best system ever for human advancement.
I suppose the bottom line will be that they're gonna tell us that the auto business that we own is a success and that WE made a profit???
But wait...I lost money on the deal. I helped pay for someone's car. No one helped me pay for my car.
And what about the dealers that got shut down. It would have been a shot in the arm for them and the little towns they inhabit.
UN - EFFING - BELIEVABLE!!!!
A national sales tax is best, that way it cannot be easily manipulated, and you get instant feedback of what it’s costing you.
It seems like it’s just more debt. Government debt and consumer debt. Destroying functioning vehicles which could be resold here or abroad makes zero sense (pun intended). Imho, it’s a stupid, stupid program.
But, but, we're already doing that, right?
Janice Joplin never warbled.
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP and then DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
and the hangover will be higher taxes, higher interest rates and higher inflation...goodbye Hussen in 2012!
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