Posts Tagged Cash For Clunkers

Clunker Drivers Have Been Bailed Out…Where’s The Outrage?

Posted by Scott in Entitlements, Gov't Spending, Taxes on August 29th, 2009

It was less than a year ago when Wall Street firms started seeing the first wave of government bailouts.  Shortly thereafter the media and “Main Street” started crying about corporate excesses and greed.  Those same people, however, are praising the “successes” of Cash For Clunkers; even advocating for a sequel Dollars For Dishwashers.

Why was Clunkers a success when the Wall Street bailouts were a miserable failure?  Essentially they amounted to the same thing, the only difference was the recipients of our tax dollars.  Where’s the outrage against those who were able to get a discount on their new automobile?  Where’s the public disclosure (maybe a bumper sticker to thank the rest of us for their new purchase)?

Now I’m not trying to say that I agree with the Wall Street bailouts, because I don’t.  I’m just trying to figure out how it’s OK to bailout one group of people and not another.  The dollar amounts are irrelevant – the principle is the same.

After all, wouldn’t it just be easier (and more Constitutional) to simply not tax us as much?  Lowering taxes for everyone across the board would not only help the auto industry and big Wall Street firms, it will also help every other industry.  If everyone has more money to spend, they will spend it where they see fit.  Whether that’s a new car, or a new dishwasher, the money will be spent, and the economy will eventually correct itself.

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Cash For Clunkers Thank You For Proving Our Point

Posted by Scott in Entitlements, Gov't Spending, Healthcare, Taxes on August 21st, 2009

For years, conservatives and liberals have clashed over taxes.  Do we tax less, and allow the free market to thrive with the increased spending, or do we tax more to allow for an increase in government spending.

Cash For Clunkers has proven the conservative point of taxing less to benefit the economy, and here’s how.

Everyone, especially liberals are pointing out that one of the successes of Cash For Clunkers is that if you give people money, they will spend it.  But why did the government have to place restrictions on how it could be spent?  Had they simply not collected that $3 billion from the American taxpayer, we would have spent it as we saw fit to begin with.

Not only would people inevitably have purchased new (or even used cars), they also would have had additional money to pay for things like, gee I don’t know, maybe health care? 

This leads me to another point.  Cash For Clunkers was supposed to last until November.  Whether it was the apparent “success” of the program, or the flaws in the paperwork processing that caused the program’s early departure, it was still cut short.  What happens when the proposed universal health care ends up becoming too “successful” for its own good, or the inevitable mountains of paperwork become too much to handle?  Are people going to be left waiting weeks or months for the treatment they desperately need (similar to the auto dealers waiting on payments they also desperately need)?

It’s time to see the light at the end of the government sponsored tunnel.  More government involvement than is absolutely necessary in anything is never a good thing.  And right now there is definitely far more than is necessary.

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Cash For Clunkers – Yet Another Government Blunder

Posted by Scott in Entitlements, Environment, Gov't Spending on August 20th, 2009

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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