Archive for category Environment

Cash For Clunkers – Yet Another Government Blunder

If you’ve driven by a new car dealership lately, you’ll likely notice the same thing I did when I went out looking to buy a new car.  The lots are barren.  You’re lucky to find a dealership who has more than one of the model car you’re looking for, and even luckier if it happens to be the right color, with all the features you want.

The recent buying frenzy caused by Cash For Clunkers has diminished the supply of new cars available to dealers to sell, because manufacturers weren’t able to increase production enough in anticipation of the surge in demand.  What this has done, is caused an increase in the price of new cars, potentially eliminating most, if not all savings the government incentive program provides.

What’s worse, is that the dealerships who have already made thousands of sales aren’t being reimbursed by the government.  One Los Angeles area dealership has said that they have made about 270 clunker deals, and has only been reimbursed for two.  That means that this dealership is owed around $1 million from the government.  And that’s just one dealership.  Nationwide, approximately 2% of all clunker deals have been paid out so far, and 80% of all applications are “rejected for minor oversights”.

Not only is the $3 billion program expensive, it’s clearly inefficient (like any other government program).

Additionally, think back to the lessons learned from the mortgage crisis, where people went further into debt than they could afford, ultimately foreclosing on their homes.  If someone is driving around in a “clunker”, they’re probably doing so because they can’t afford to buy a brand new vehicle.  They might be better off if they upgraded to a nicer used vehicle, but many of the new vehicles that qualify for the program are expensive.  The auto finance companies are loving life right now, but they’ll be looking for another bailout once people start defaulting on their loans.

Come to think of it, why are only new cars accepted in the clunkers program?  It seems to me that buying a more fuel efficient used car would be better for the environment than manufacturing a brand new fuel efficient car.  Not to mention the environmental impact of increased scrapping of some perfectly good cars.  Seems to me like the program is more of a bailout for the automakers than it is an environmental incentive.

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Trade Your SUV for a Hybrid, or Better Yet, a Bicycle

Barbra Streisand warns of Global Warming!!

“We are in a global warming emergency state, and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense,” Streisand said referring to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which ravaged the Gulf coast over the past several weeks. “There could be more droughts, dust bowls. You know, it’s amazing to hear these facts.”

Amazing indeed. Now for the real story.

These “facts” Streisand is referring to, likely come from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC speculated that climate change due to increasing amounts of “greenhouse” gases may result in increased tropical sea surface temperatures and increased tropical rainfall – in lay terms, they speculated that more greenhouse gases = more hurricanes. After their study in 1990, they concluded:

“There is some evidence from model simulations and empirical considerations that the frequency per year, intensity and area of occurrence of tropical disturbances may increase [in a doubled carbon dioxide world], though it is not yet compelling.”

So in order for the frequency and intensity of the hurricanes to increase, we would have to be living in a doubled carbon dioxide world – maybe. Notice how they qualified that statement though by saying that the evidence they have isn’t even compelling evidence. The study’s conclusion goes on to say:

“Although some models now represent tropical storms with some realism for present day climate, the state of the science does not allow assessment of future changes.”

Amazing. Barb knows more about the future of our environment than the experts. I wonder if they consulted her during their study? If not, how could they possibly come up with any “facts”. After all, if Barb said it, it must be true.

Barb, stick to making crappy movies. As bad as you are as an actress, you’re better at that than predicting the world’s demise. For now, I’ll keep my SUV.

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