Stupid is as stupid does!
Posted on 11/05/2009 9:32:36 AM PST by flowerplough
Edited on 11/05/2009 9:36:40 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
The most common deals under the government's $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program, aimed at putting more fuel-efficient cars on the road, replaced old Ford or Chevrolet pickups with new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
Stupid is as stupid does!
Wow, and at only $24,000.00 dpc (dollars per clunk)!.
Just wait to see what they can for for our health care.
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Lets see. 8200 trucks now get better gas mileage. Lets assume 12,000 m/year and lets assume that the old trucks got 15 mpg and the new trucks 20 mpg.
Old trucks gas consumption - 8200*12,000/15 = 6.5 million gallons of gas
New trucks gas consumption - 8200*12,000/20 = 4.9 million gallons of gas
Obama has saved the US 1.6 million gallons of gas. At $2.50 per gallon ... that works out to a saving of about $4 million dollars per year.
Now the cost of the program was $4,000 per vehicle so multiply that by 8200 trucks and we get a program cost of $32.8 Million.
So, the boy genius SPENT $32.8 million to SAVE $4 million. That means it will take more than the next 8 years for the economy to see a return on the savings.
Oops. Hit by the law of unintended consequences. Left hand does not know what other Left hand is doing.
“ROTFLMAO! Obama has been pwned! “
Cash For Traitors??
Classic :)
During cash for clunkers we went down to the dealer to see if we could trade one old Wrangler for a new one. Since the new ones are much like the old ones (aerodynamics of a brick and built on solid axle truck parts), we couldn’t get the rest of y’all to help us buy a new one.
“Lets see. 8200 trucks now get better gas mileage. So, the boy genius SPENT $32.8 million to SAVE $4 million. That means it will take more than the next 8 years for the economy to see a return on the savings.”
The numbers are even worse because as Edmunds has pointed out many of the purchases would have hardened anyway.
That number is just plain silly. More than 800,000 Americans have $3500.00 - $4500.00 more equity than they had before the program. Now, you might not like this or think that it was not worth it or that the government should not be doing things like this at all, but that doesn't change the facts. This is the only "stimulus" program that I've seen that does anything positive for an appreciable number of American citizens.
I was against all of the stimulus, but the money has already been voted on and approved. If we have to spend "stimulus" money, I would prefer it to be spent on something like cash for clunkers where at least some Americans gain something. Most "stimulus" spending is throwing money down a rat hole with few if any benefits to American citizens.
If we are going to spend the rest of the hundreds of Billions of dollars already approved, at least give citizens something to show for it.
Where I come from you have to account for the cost of money and discount for the probability that the expected benefit will be realized. I'm thinking never is a better estimate.
We have a friend who is the sales manager for a dealership. He admitted to us that they raised the price they were selling all of their cars for by more than what people were getting for their “clunkers”. This was just a huge handout to car dealers.
I have been out at some local junk yards recently. The cars which were turned in under the program had their engines seized. The engines are painted with bright yellow and orange paint. It is terrible to see cars and trucks which in many cases are in nicer shape than the ones we drive... destroyed. It is a very potent symbol of government waste. It is too bad that there has not been more news coverage of this awful destruction of property. People who turned their cars in under this program should be ashamed. Not only did most of them trade in a perfectly good vehicle for a new car payment, they deprived persons less affluent than themselves of good transportation.
There is a car lot near us which sells donated vehicles as part of a local charity. I talked to a salesman there, he said the program really hurt them.
Thanks for the post. I took those figures and placed them in a spreadsheet. Then I sorted it a variety of ways to determine that...
1. These 50,345 deals, saw a 33.21% reduction in traditional domestic manufacturer’s brands. 16,720 vehicles were purchased from Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, and Toyota. How is that going to help government motors long term?
2. 41,920 Fords were turned in. 23,373 new Fords were sold. That’s a brand loyalty of only 55.76%. This program saw Ford lose 44.24% of it’s consumer base, of those participating. This impacts Ford several ways that are quite negative. Brand loyalty was switched, meaning Ford probably won’t see those buyers coming back. Any dealership maintenance associated with their vehicles being on the road, is also removed. Any parts manufacturers that supply Ford are negatively impacted.
3. 25,632 Ford Explorers were taken off the road. Since Ford Explorer replacements don’t appear on this list, less than 1,423 were replaced with Ford Explorers, 1,423 being the smallest ‘new vehicle’ figure on this report. That’s a net loss of at least 24,209 vehicles.
4. 16,288 Ford F-150s were taken off the road. 8,428 new F-150s replaced them. That’s a net loss of 7,860 vehicles.
5. 4,810 Chevrolets were turned in. 8,650 new Chevrolets were sold. Every one of them was a Silverado. Despite this and the Ford F-150 figures, Ford did not get bailed out by the federal government, and it turned a profit last year, something Chevrolet was unable to achieve.
6. Where do the profits from foreign owned manufacturers go? Where do the profits from domestically owned manufacturers go? Well, we just lost 33% of the business to foreign owned. Is it reasonable to ask if we haven’t just lost 33% of the motor vehicle profits to foreign corporations?
I didn’t agree that there should have been a cash for clunkers program in the first place, but if you’re going to run that type of a program in a climate that sees domestic manufacturers reeling from the recession, shouldn’t you stipulate that only domestic purchases would be eligible for the program? As it is, about all Obama achieved was to move the U.S. closer to bankruptcy, and move one third of the 50,345 participants of this programs away from U.S. manufacturers overnight.
Again, how does that help out Government Motors long term?
This program exemplifies the idiocy that has become the norm issued from our governance these days. No matter how well intended, government quacks can’t control the economy nearly as well as the capitalist system will, if left alone to work it’s magic.
Ford Explorers and F-150s are good vehicles. It’s startling to watch those brands eviscerated in this manner.
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I don't think so ... they traded perfectly good running vehicles THAT WERE PAID OFF for a new $20-$30K note .. that new truck dropped at least $6K the minute they bought it ... The buyers DO NOT have "more equity" ,, they have MORE DEBT . I've been to the "you pull it" junkyards twice in the last month stocking up on spare parts (I'd rather pay $24.99 for a radiator fan motor than $168+tax).. the cars and trucks there are all very nice perfectly usable vehicles.
Uh, what happened to having to have a differential of at least 3MPG improvement to qualify for the minimum 'rebate'?
And I still haven't figured out, if the government paid $3,500-4,500 for them to be junked, who ate the difference between that and the actual trade in value?
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