Cash For Clunkers

My thoughts on the "Cash For Clunkers" program, and why it should be extended for the foreseeable future...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Cash
• For
• Clunkers
• new
• car
• sales
• program
• extension
• economic
• recovery

[siclos]

Destroying material wealth does not make us richer. I'd think that would be a "no brainer".

Before C4C we had about 700,000 clunkers, and 3 billion dollars of credit, plus whatever money citizens added.

After C4C, we'll have about 700,000 piles of scrap, and new cars with an initial value of 3 billion dollars, plus whatever money citizens added.

Net effect is 700,000 cars were turned into 700,000 piles of scrap, not even counting resources wasted administering the program.

[armyveteran101st]

While I'm not versed on the technical details, the points you make are well taken and noted. However, I still think that in the end we will find that the program had many more pros than cons, in spite of the apparent flaws in it. Now that we've implemented, it could maybe be improved upon and refined. That's the only way to end up with good results. If you do nothing, you get nothing, and that's unacceptable to me. There's nothing worst than inaction.

[Chamelionroses]

I am sad that most people don't understand the difference between communism, socialism, and capitalism. The mind in what people judge in people of it either. The "Red Scare" in the history of America, and history of any of the words they use. Funny how they think the president is Communistic, a Nazi, Muslim, and a whole bunch of other things. Sadly people refuse the factual information on what they are saying.

I hope things turn about in time for the good.

[armyveteran101st]

Chamelion, all this BS is due in great part to racial prejudice. Just yesterday a republican Senator from Oklahoma made statements to the effect that "Obama wants to destroy America". This is not only completely irresponsible, but highly paranoid and inflammatory, and comes from the deep-seated prejudice whites still hold against minorities. They had managed to conceal them pretty well until Obama's election, after which everything came to the surface in an ugly way. That's what this is about.

[Efteling4Ever]

Don't know if this was a success in the US, but it sure wasn't in Germany where they had exactly the same economic stimulus. Guess what happened. Suppose you're driving some junk. Suppose you're are doing that cause your salary just ain't the best around. Now you get 2000 EUR (and you belong to the people thinking that's a shitload of money) if you buy a new car. Well what would you buy? A German BMW (lets say 35.000+ EUR) or a foreign Dacia (7000 EUR)? Great stimulus for German economy..

[ReliableInsider]

TranCendenZ,

Anytime a family that has a mortgage buys anything or invests in anything they have more debt. Anytime a company or an entrepreneur invests in anything, he temporarily has less money, or more debt.

The question is whether college tuition or a modest home or a new suit or new offices in a better location are a good investment or a bad investment.

When the Clinton economy was booming, we didn't need a stimulus package. The economy is bushed. Now's the right time.

[ReliableInsider]

Hey, I love good news.

The only person who will be miserable when America comes roaring back is Rush Limbaugh.

[siclos]

C4C doesn't help the environment.

Replacing a clunker at the end of its useful lifetime saves very little fuel because it has very few miles left.

Replacing a clunker at the beginning of its useful lifetime saves fuel, but more energy is used building a car than it can be expected to burn as fuel. Better to just drive the clunker and make use of 100% of its remaining useful life, than destroy it for a fractional fuel savings.

At no point in between does C4C make environmental sense.

[armyveteran101st]

And you're absolutely right about communism. I know, because my family on my maternal grandfather's side had to suffer communism in the flesh in Cuba. Lack of freedoms is the price you pay for living in such systems.

[Akatam0t0ma]

"I'm not a gambler, but I would bet $100 million I don't have, that 75% of US and 95% of the world population would love it there, if it wasn't labeled bad. That's ignorance for you."

I know what you mean. I used to think that Communism might have been a good idea when I was younger. But now I know better. However, I do think too many people, especially Americans, remain too paranoid about it.