UAW urges support for 'cash for clunkers' bill

The corruption of the American car market continues, with no end in sight. It's what happens when structuring it around Leftist goals instead of supply & demand-according the the needs & desires of buyers.

This is a gross misuse of federal funds for a program that won't work, for a problem we don't have.

No, the above sentence is not a double negative.

Let me explain the sentence. The problem we don't have is man-made global warming. Is the globe warming, yes, there is not argument against that, we have scientific data to back it up, although it seems that (according to some findings) it is slowing, or has stopped all together. What I do argue, is that what global warming there is man-made. There are theories out there that say it is, but no firm, irrefutable proof of it.

A program that won't work means just that, the program won't work. Most of the people driving the cars they want to collect are driving them for a reason, not because they want to drive a 20 year old 15mpg car, but because that is all they can afford. How many people who can't afford more than a couple thousand for a car, once they get an extra $4500.00 will now magically be able to afford a $20,000.00 car? None. So, it will get very few of the cars off the streets that they want to get off the streets. In other words, it won't work.

My son drives a 1990 Oldsmobile Calis Wagon. Why, because that is all he can afford. That extra $4500 doesn't get him any closer to a new car then he already is, he's working ~35hr per week as a stocker at a grocery store making roughly $8.00 an hour, he's a sophomore in college, paying his own way (with his own money and student loans). He can't afford a car payment on top of that.

Most of these older cars are paid off, which means no car payment. The car runs fine, sure, there would be a weekly savings in gas, but nowhere near enough to offset a couple hundred dollar a month car payment.

The cars that are turned in are junked, or I would hope they are, otherwise they are being resold for much less than the money paid for them, which brings us to the gross misuse of federal funds. If these cars are being resold, they are being resold at a great loss to the taxpayer, a huge waste of money. If they are not being resold, they are being junked/recycled. If they are not being parted out to recover some of the cost, they are being recycled as a whole, which with transportation costs, energy costs and the environmental impact of all of the non-recyclable materials, all of which could present a bigger impact to the environment then just driving the car until it dies.

Finally, here is something for all of you to think about. What happens next year, or the year after, if this program is successful? Everyone has a new car, who are the auto makers going to sell their cars to? How much more damage to the economy are we going to do in the name of saving it?

This is political move in the purest sense.

To buy a new car that cost 15 to 60K most Americans need a loan. To qualify for the loan you need a very good credit score.

Many people drive older cars are doing so to manage cash flow for many reasons.

I believe the total number of Americans that can qualify for a car today is less that half of what it was one year ago.

This means that the government will get almost zero boost from offering the benefit as far fewer Americans can qualify or risk the cash expense.

The real issue here is we are setting an artificial basement on car prices by not allowing the market to establish what prices the American people are willing to pay for a given product. The cash for clunkers is another auto industry stimulus package where we are giving support at the back end of the sale. If the government really wants to stimulate car sales, they should allow the American people to write off the interest on their car loan to Federal Income Taxes. The interest write-off would allow the market to value cars while leaving the negotiation power in the hand of the people.