Friday, July 31, 2009

Cash for clunkers Halted. Plan Already Broke!

This just in. The cash for clunkers program has been halted. Apparently the plan might already go broke due to how immensely popular it was.

From USATODAY

The government suspended the explosively popular "cash for clunkers" program, fearing it would go broke before it could pay what it still owes dealers for a huge backlog of sales, according to congressional offices and a dealer group.

........
"The thing has exploded. It has exceeded everyone's expectations," said Miller, who was involved in writing the original legislation, known as CARS, for Car Allowance Rebate System. "Throughout our history, it has been auto sales that have pulled us out of recession. People are more likely to buy cars than houses. Not to be too Pollyannaish, but we're gettin' our mojo back. This could be the pivot" that begins an economic recovery.


Wow apparently Miller is getting ahead of himself. all this is doing is incentivising people to take their cars that are already on the road (everyone knows used cars are the most eco friendly cars out there) and exchange them for new cars. This puts more money into the carmakers pockets and takes business away from local repair shops. Onece again the government is helping out big business at the expense of little ones.

Just another personal comment. If they can't even manage this simple plan effectively then how am I to expect them the immensely complex healthcare system?

3 comments:

Matt said...

They managed it just fine, just failed to fund it adequately! Clearly, its a successful program, just lacking the cash to make it happen. Couple that to the super aggressive dealer marketing and then we have a problem. Easy fix- put more money into the program.

Grew said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Grew said...

Yea put more money in, but where is that money going to come from. I wasn't arguing with the success of the program, just about its implementation and how it frightens me.

I will refer to a quote that is very relevant to this point.

“It’s not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number.” — a Treasury Department spokeswoman explaining how the $700 billion number was chosen for the initial bailout, quoted on Forbes.com Sept. 23.