Obama's Cash-for-Clunker facepalm failure!

Lots of talk a little while back about how the Cash-for-Clunkers was going to revitalize the economy and put hundreds of thousands of high MPG fuel efficient vehicles on the road.

However all it did was waste tax payers dollars and further impoverish the poor.

FACEPALM FAILURE!

;)

Check out the AP article here... http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i_J2CDMBIZhobnHhGIYFCzqvR52...


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Clunker' data show pickup-for-pickup trades
By TED BRIDIS (AP) 2 days ago
WASHINGTON — Billed as a way for the government to put more fuel-efficient vehicles on highways, the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program mostly involved swaps of old Ford or Chevrolet pickups for new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.

The single most common swap — which occurred more than 8,200 times — involved Ford F150 pickup owners who took advantage of a government rebate to trade their old trucks for new Ford F150s. They were 17 times more likely to buy a new F150 than, say, a Toyota Prius. The fuel economy for the new trucks ranged from 15 mpg to 17 mpg based on engine size and other factors, an improvement of just 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the clunkers.

Owners of thousands more large, old Chevrolet and Dodge pickups bought new Silverado and Ram trucks, also with only barely improved mileage in the middle teens, according to AP's analysis of sales of $15.2 billion worth of vehicles at nearly 19,000 car dealerships in every state. Those deals helped the Ford F150 and Chevy Silverado — along with Ford's Escape midsize SUV — climb into the Top 10 most-popular vehicles purchased with the government rebates. The most common truck-for-truck and truck-for-SUV deals totaled at least $911 million.

In scores of deals, the government reported spending a total of $562,500 in rebates for new cars and trucks that got worse or the same mileage as the trade-ins — in apparent violation of the program's requirements. The government said it is investigating those reports and said in some cases they were probably entered incorrectly by dealers or based on outdated fuel economy figures.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is still reviewing the reports, and any dealers that submitted invalid trade-ins will be directed to return the government rebate, spokesman Eric Bolton said.

The new data, obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act, include details of 677,081 clunker trade-ins processed by the government through Oct. 16. More than 95,000 of the new vehicles purchased under the program — or about 1 in 7 — got less than 20 mpg, according to the data.
The new figures, requested four months ago by the AP, represent the first substantial outside accounting of the clunkers program, lauded by the White House and the Transportation Department for improving fuel economy, stimulating sales and taking the dirtiest vehicles off the road. The data show the average fuel economy was 15.8 mpg for the old vehicles and 24.9 for the new ones.

The $3 billion program, known officially as the Car Allowance Rebate System, ran from July 27 to Aug. 25 and generally required that new vehicles get better mileage — at least 22 mpg for cars and either 15 mpg or 18 mpg for trucks, depending on class — and that trade-ins get no more than 18 mpg. The trade-ins were required to be destroyed in exchange for either $3,500 or $4,500 rebates.

Some deals raise eyebrows:
_ In at least 145 cases, mostly involving trucks, the government reported consumers traded old vehicles that got better than or the same mileage as the new vehicle they purchased. The government said it was continuing to investigate. "It's possible some quirky deal slipped through the cracks," Anwyl said.
_ In at least 15 deals in nine states, owners of large pickups cashed in old trucks for between $3,500 and $4,500 toward new Hummer H3 SUVs that got only 16 mpg.
_ In at least 32 deals, drivers traded older vehicles for new large trucks — including versions of Toyota Tundras, GMC Sierras, Chevrolet Silverados, Dodge Rams and Ford F150 pickups — that got only 14 mpg.

Cash for Clunkers data: http://www.cars.gov/carsreport;)
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Category:

News & Politics

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• SAR
• OBAMA
• CASH
• FOR
• CLUNKERS
• FACEPALM
• FAILURE

[12GaugeLosAngeles]

* 690,114 cars were purchased under the program; two-thirds of those bought by consumers were passenger cars * The average rebate was $4,170.18, for a total of $2.878 billion. The rest of the $3 billion budget will cover administrative expenses. * The average new car bought with the rebates got 9.2 mpg more than the average clunker traded in, for an annual average fuel savings per driver of 277 gallons of fuel or about $720.

Dude quit your political bitching and go pray.

[SafeArmsReview]

Stop using the old obama numbers, this is according to the newest federal figures.

;)

[dantz34]

Has government ever been in the buisness of fixing problems? there is no money or political value in fixing anything.

[Liberty4Ever]

I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.

EPIC FAIL.

Free markets work. Government central planning doesn't. History has shown this time and time again.

We're going to be entering an era of hyperinflation, and the crashing economy will result in massive unemployment. Farming will be a good job, and that's about it.

The government only has what they steal from us, through numerous taxes and the hidden tax of inflation, and the government takes a big chunk when redistributing wealth.

[snowpig1]

Also poor people will still have an enormous selection of used vehicles to purchase because there was as enormous percentage of people with $1K - $4K cars that did not qualify and their cars will still be on the open market. Also many young people with marginal credit were able to use this rebate as a down payment on a loan that they typically would not get approved for. In return, these people are in cleaner running, more reliable cars and building their credit worthiness for the future

[snowpig1]

I am a fan of safe arms and steves comments but I have to say that the clunkers program was not a complete failure. I've worked in sales in the auto industry and a lot of theis info was biased. Some of the top ten cars bought in return for their clunkers were Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra and Ford Focus. In a matter of 30 days my entire inventory of 4 cyl cars as wells as my neighboring competitors(toyota & honda) were sold out. The maximum rebate was $4500 not $6000.

[sharpie443]

Who thout it was a good idea to call them czar. I don't like it. Czar = Caesar. Something about that bothers me.

[fuel20]

Prime example of just how the welfare state works. Inflation is a bitch for the poor people, which is a greater % of American people each and every day. And then that one day the uninformed poor will gladly accept the new currency (w/e it will be) and denounce capitalism. Only a fool or a person who wants to kill the currency would keep Bernanke as fed chairman among others.

[RaptrizNear2009]

and more than that . . .all tehy did was sell a bunch of foreign cars. talk with your local dealer who sells a GM, Ford or Chevy and see how well it really did for them vs Toyota, Hyundai and Honda.

[flipdog69xxx]

it's amazing how my 1985 buick regal DID NOT qualify for this (by a mere 30-something cubic inches for the engine LOL). Lost out on a new car and then the Regal finally kicked the bucket and now I'm car-less.

[USNERDOC]

You are spot on!

A new subscriber.

Keep these coming!

[milleniumproof]

I was tempted to turn in my truck for the $4,000 dollars. But then I'd get the queezy feeling that the government actually did something for me. So I decided to keep my truck. Plus how many people are in a financial position to buy a new vehicle that do this anyway?