Posted on 10/02/2009 7:33:36 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
What goes up must fall just as hard. Case in point: cash for clunkers:
"The dramatic decline in sales reported Thursday by the Big Three automakers suggested the extent to which the stimulus act has propped up the economy. The government’s wildly popular “Cash for Clunkers” program drove consumer spending to its highest level in eight years in August. But after it ended, so did the growth in auto sales.
General Motors’ sales plunged 36 percent in September compared with August. Ford plummeted 37 percent. Chrysler dove 33 percent.
Cash for clunkers “was a one-time boost of sales followed by a crater,” said Ben Herzon, an economist at Macroeconomic Advisers. The firm forecast that the program was likely to have no effect as a stimulant for national economic output.”
“It was disappointing. I expected the month to be a bit stronger, but it just wasn’t,” said Mark LaNeve, G.M.’s vice president of United States sales.
Politicians initially lauded cash for clunkers as a successful program that stimulated the economy, particularly the ailing auto industry, and the program also inspired consumers to buy more fuel efficient vehicles at the expense of completely destroying their old ones. Nancy Gibbs sums it up well in Time:
“What does it tell us about our national character when the most popular government program in years is an economically dubious, environmentally negligible, politically lazy handout from 99% of the population to the other 1%, all aimed at reviving the economy from its vegetative state?”
If you subsidize anything enough, people will buy it. Industry incentives are increasing but nowhere near the level of the $3,500-$4,500 taxpayer-funded “incentives.” Worse, cash for clunkers could have serious adverse consequences for consumers’ behavior when it comes to purchasing goods. If consumers come to expect a handout from the government, they may hold off on buying a new product.
It’s difficult to say when the cash for clunkers hangover will subside, but head of Chrysler’s sales organization Peter Fong thinks that “the remainder of 2009 will continue to be a challenge for the U.S. automotive market.”
So much for that talk of a successful government program.
Now that we have run a short little experiment, can anyone explain the difference between the cash for clunkers program and results, and the larger stimulus package and its inevitable result? Are we expecting something different?
Take it a step further. What does it tell us about a President that uses the same economically dubious and politically lazy handout from 99% of the population to the other 1%, all in the interest of "spreading the wealth" and "economic justice"...?
What on earth did they think was going to happen?
Same with the $8000 bonus for first time home buyers....who the hell is handing them $8000 grand? WE are - why should we be paying anything for anyone? I could back a $0 down program if they qualified with good credit - like what is given to Veterans - that is no money out of my pocket or yours, but $8000 free handout just because someone wants to buy a home???? It infuriates me
That's the whole point...they don't think. They feeeeeeeeeeeeeel....
>> I was just re-reading the Constitution and didn’t see anything in there on government giveaway programs...
Did you check the penumbras? (You may have to pull back the foreskin around the parchment to see them. Or something.)
Gee, yet another idea by or child/man in charge that was not completely thought out. How many more brilliant ideas must we suffer through before we, as a country, are no more?
Didn’t Mao go though many of these failures when he first got into power? Failures that all but destroyed China.
Immature and inexperienced people suddenly in power tend to cause more damage then good.
Very eloquently put!
Awwwwwwww. Don’t tell me ‘Hoopties for Hybrids’ didn’t work. Poor, poor Van Jones. /s
>> why should we be paying anything for anyone?
Right. And, I hate to say it, ‘cause there’s a lot of folks right here on FR that will disagree, but the SAME THING is true of that sixty-fourth through one-hundred-fifty-second week of UNEMPLOYMENT everyone is salivating over.
Why work? Seriously. Why try? Why retrain? Why move? The Bambi government will take care of you.
Vince Ferrer, that was one of the most succinct statements I have seen around here in a while.
Maybe it would "stimulate" their minds enough to know government giveaways don't work. I guess they never heard the "give a man a fish....".
One of the things that got us into this mess.
But I do agree that all the crappy loans should be halted - that is what got us into this mess.
Now that you've peeled yourself off the ceiling and can read this paragraph, I will point out that I've actually SEEN that argument on DU, I swear to God.
I think you forgot to look in the penumbras. Go back and look again.
bump
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