Cash for clunkers, trade in your common sense

I've been hearing a lot about the Cash for Clunkers bill lately. I don't like it. More of the government pissing away money it doesn't have in the name economic stimulus. To my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong), the government gives you up to $4500 (that it really doesn't have) on you "old clunker" to be used toward the purchase of a newer, more fuel efficient car.

Well now that sounds pretty nice. Heck I could have used that a year ago when I was trying to buy a Smart. Oh wait, my credit is fucked. So it doesn't do me much good anyway. Really I'm not even sure if the Smart qualifies. It's only on certain cars you get the the money. The thing is, even if I would be getting $4500 out of it, would it be worth it to trade in a car that I'm not making payments on for one that I will be making payments on? And how long will the money I'm saving in gas offset that? I'm starting not to like this, but there's more.

Wouldn't this be a great excuse for manufacturers and dealers to jack up the cost of a new car? I mean if they add, say $2000, to the price of every car that qualifies, would you even notice or care if you are getting $4500? You would still be saving on the cost of a new car. Just as well they could jack up the price the full $4500. You wouldn't save anything. But you would have the illusion of savings, and probly feel good about it. Meanwhile the manufacturers are making off like bandits. And it most likely all going to the corp execs. They get richer, you get poorer and deeper in debt. Is this starting to sound like a dumb idea to you? I'm not done yet.

These "clunkers" that are being traded in are going straight to the crusher. Every one of them. Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it make more sense to resell them at low cost? At least the ones that are still good cars? Wouldn't make sense to part out and salvage the rest? Isn't that what dealerships normally do with trade-in's? Don't they usually turn a profit off of that? Sadly, perfectly good cars are being destroyed and going straight to the crusher. Like this Volvo.



Now I'm not that big of a fan of Volvo, but watching that really pissed me off. Looks to me like that was a car that could have been resold. Looks to me like the dealers are being screwed here. Seriously. They could be selling these cars at lower cost to people that can't buy a new car. That would make a whole lot more sense. Are you pissed off about this yet?

Here's what would make more sense to me. Offer a tax break to manufacturers that offer incentives like this bill to customers. That puts the manufacturers in control of the incentive, not the government. The manufacturers would be spending money that they have, or cutting into their profits. And since they would be competing with each other, that would drive the prices down and the number of new cars being sold up. The other part of this is that the manufacturers, or better yet the dealers, decide what happens to the trade-in. Most likely that is going to mean they are resold. I know that may keep some "gas-guzzlers" on the road, but there's a tax on gas. The government gets to make some of the money back from offering a tax break. It most likely will not even out, but still, it's a better plan than what is currently in place.

Agree? Disagree? If you are reading this, let me know what you think. BTW, why is it that a common schmoe that was raised in a middle-class home and went to public school can come up with better ideas than people running this country?

Kinda makes me wonder what folks like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Paine would say about this if they were alive today.