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Cash for Clunkers: Trade in American, Buy Foreign
townhall.com ^ | August 10, 2009 | Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

Posted on 08/11/2009 5:29:25 AM PDT by kellynla

The only part of the stimulus program that is working, the cash-for-clunkers program is, in reality, a subsidy to foreign car companies, proving that Barack Obama is the best president Japan ever had.

The Department of Transportation reports that the ten leading trade-ins are all American branded cars while six of the top ten new cars purchased - and four of the top five - are foreign. So the United States Senate is about to pass additional funds to subsidize the trade-in of American cars and the purchase of foreign cars.

DOT reports that the following are the ten top trade-ins, all American:

1. Ford Explorer 2. Ford F150 Pickup 2WD 3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4 WD 4. Jeep Cherokee 4 WD 5. Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 6. Chevrolet Blazer 4 WD 7. Ford Explorer 2 WD 8. Ford F150 Pickup 4 WD 9. Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2 WD 10. Ford Windstar FWD Van

And the top ten new car purchases, subsidized by the American taxpayer, are mainly foreign vehicles:

Top Ten New Car Purchases: Cash for Clunkers

1. Toyota Corolla 2. Ford Focus FWD 3. Honda Civic 4. Toyota Prius 5. Toyota Camry 6. Ford Escape FWD 7. Hyndai Elantra 8. Dodge Caliber 9. Honda Fit 10. Chevrolet Cobalt

It is a violation of the World Trade Organization rules to enact a public subsidy program and skew it toward only domestically produced products, so the Congress has no choice but to extend the program to all comers. No choice, that is, but to not spend the money in the first place.

Cash for Clunkers will do wonders for the Japanese economy, but its impact on the US job situation is problematic. This unintended consequence is a great illustration of what happens when the blunt tool of government subsidy is applied to the fine tuning of a free market economy. Government planners keep getting it wrong. That's why socialism is such a bad idea.

So Obama can boast of a great success in taking American cars off the road and replacing them with foreign cars. Great going!


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: automakers; cars; cashforclunkers; clunkers; dickmorris; manufacturing; vehicles
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To: Caipirabob

BUMP

That is hilarious. And oh so true!


41 posted on 08/11/2009 7:39:31 AM PDT by upchuck (Neuter them in 2010 - Send them packing in 2012.)
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To: kellynla

LOL, Yeah the Mexicans arent making any parts are they?

Sorry.I guess I was mistaken when I read, Made in Mexico ,on all those parts boxes.


42 posted on 08/11/2009 7:44:26 AM PDT by Venturer
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To: WayneS
It took me about 10 seconds of research on the internet to find that out. Perhaps the writer of the article should have done the same.

Writer of the article knows that. What he also knows, and what you are overlooking is the fact that a huge part of the money goes to Japan and Japanese workers because the companies are owned by the Japanese. They are assembled here, many of the parts are made in Japan and, as I have said, a large part of the profits goes to Japan.

However, some US workers benefit and the UAW gets screwed. The whole idea of the cash for clunkers program was to enrich US car companies and the UAW, it was just another payback for them, the fact that they are getting screwed from their own brilliant plan is the whole point of the article.

43 posted on 08/11/2009 7:57:50 AM PDT by calex59
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To: WayneS

And the Ford Focus (#2 on list) is made in Mexico for NA sales.


44 posted on 08/11/2009 8:06:00 AM PDT by green iguana
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To: caver

Just wait’ll next year...

Hyundai won’t be making a truck, but - assuming they pass safety inspections this month - Mahindra and Mahindra will begin selling their pickup here in December. It’ll be a largish medium size truck, but the killer thing about it is that the bed will carry twice what a F150 or Silverado can. Over 3000 lbs. And it tows like a beast.


45 posted on 08/11/2009 8:10:57 AM PDT by green iguana
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To: kellynla
and the prices of used cars will go up...

They already are. Up about 15% since spring, according to Manheim data.

46 posted on 08/11/2009 8:12:26 AM PDT by green iguana
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To: MichiganConservative
The vehicles have to be destroyed

Only the engine has to be destroyed (still a waste.) Transmission can't be sold whole, but it can be parted out, as can the rest of the vehicle.

47 posted on 08/11/2009 8:14:04 AM PDT by green iguana
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To: green iguana

That Mahindra is very interesting.


48 posted on 08/11/2009 8:26:23 AM PDT by MichiganConservative (ObamaCare is socialism. It will do nothing but increase premature, unnecessary death.)
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To: DB

My car is old but runs fine and gets too many miles per gallon to qualify under the “cash for clunkers” program, plus I don’t feel like spending a lot of money on a new vehicle right now. But if I was...is there any rule about how long you have to have owned the “clunker”? Can you go buy a gas-guzzler for $1000 and then the next day use it for your $4500 subsidy?


49 posted on 08/11/2009 10:06:38 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: kellynla
And my neighbors never killed one American Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine.

I think a decent number of Southerners might feel a little different about that.

(whistles Dixie)

:-P

50 posted on 08/11/2009 10:25:45 AM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
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To: green iguana

Mahindra has a bad case of overpromise and underdeliver.
I wonder if they’ll ever make it to the US.
Their 3rd world technology is great for developing countries, I think they are struggling to meet all the US regs.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/07/u-s-mahindra-pickup-reportedly-stalled-until-february/


51 posted on 08/11/2009 10:37:35 AM PDT by nascarnation
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To: kellynla; All

Fine I won’t buy anything British, Spanish, Native American, German, North Korean, Vietnamese, or Japanese..


52 posted on 08/11/2009 11:00:23 AM PDT by KevinDavis (Can't Stop the Signal!)
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To: nascarnation

Thanks for the link. The Pik-Up is an interesting entry truck for them. It’s promising that the delay this time is only two months. The one I’m interested in is supposed to be their second vehicle here - a full sized pickup based off the Scorpio SUV. Supposed to be here next fall, but as you pointed out, I should probably expect some delays...


53 posted on 08/11/2009 11:04:57 AM PDT by green iguana
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To: Thermalseeker

[Whatever my next car is it will not under any circumstances be a GM]

I’m buying GM!

Pre-1970 that is.


54 posted on 08/11/2009 11:21:03 AM PDT by FastCoyote (I am intolerant of the intolerable.)
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To: Verginius Rufus
Can you go buy a gas-guzzler for $1000 and then the next day use it for your $4500 subsidy?

The person who buys the new car must have owned, registered, and insured the clunker car traded in for at least a year. This is to ensure that the program will deprive the used-car market of the best sub-$3,500/$4,500 vehicles. While a few of the people who can afford new cars will have a spare clunker lying around to cash in on, most such people, if they'd ever had a clunker, would have already sold it.

55 posted on 08/11/2009 3:25:22 PM PDT by supercat (Barry Soetoro == Bravo Sierra)
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To: MichiganConservative
You can’t use the program. You car gets over 19mpg combined.

Why doesn't that surprise me? So I may be subsidizing someone's purchase of a Hummer but couldn't begin to afford one myself. Great going Democrats!

56 posted on 08/11/2009 6:12:08 PM PDT by highlander_UW (The only difference between the MSM and the DNC is the MSM sells ad space in their propaganda)
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