"Congress considers 'Cash for Clunkers'"
Forget the dopey rhetoric about this stimulating the economy--broken windows fallacy, anyone?. This might well be a good policy, not only for the gas savings mentioned, but because a pretty substantial fraction of automobile-caused air pollution comes from "clunkers". Get rid of them and maybe the rest of us wouldn't have to have annual pollution checks that any reasonably new car passes with laughable ease.
(But notice how our noble representatives want to mess with even reasonable proposals. The voucher you get from trading in your clunker could only be used for a car with an MSRP of less $45,000. Why? I'm guessing it's because more expensive cars are produced largely by foreign manufacturers. We just have to play ppolitics, don't you know?)
So the reimbursement is for the purchase of a new car? What about people who want to buy a new bicycle, or bus pass, or take more taxis? Isn't the goal to get cars off the road, not subsidize the purchase of more cars?
Posted by: bjk | January 26, 2009 at 09:15 AM
Why not close all the gas stations? That would reduce pollution too.
Posted by: jorod | January 26, 2009 at 11:15 AM
How many of those who own a "clunker" can afford a new car? How many can get loans in the current situation?
My daughter has a decent, well-maintained older car with 100K on it. Even with a voucher she really shouldn't buy a new car, based on her current financial situation.
Her car is older but relatively non-polluting, is paid for, and should last her another couple of years. That is 24 months on non-payment of a car loan at (I'm guessing) 250-500/month.
Posted by: JorgXMcKie | January 26, 2009 at 12:28 PM
"could only be used for a car with an MSRP of less $45,000"...so, let's suppose the Chevy Volt comes in at a price point of over $45K. Want to be that after frantic lobbying, it gets a special exception so that the voucher is good for *it* even though it isn't good for other cars over $45K?
Comes next Ford Motor Company, begging an exemption for one of *its* over-$45K vehicles...say, one equipped with a super-duper new high-efficiency diesel....You can see what happens, every single aspect of the auto biz becomes highly politicized.
Which is great for incumbent Congressmen because of all the shakedown potential...
Posted by: david foster | January 26, 2009 at 04:11 PM
Wait, I just had an idea. Imagine all of the old POS V8 clunkers out there with a real street value of say $500. I can see buying one just to get a $4500 voucher. How many people would find, buy, register, and drive the polluting clunkers for a few months just to partake?!
An interesting secondary market indeed!
Posted by: Speedmaster | January 26, 2009 at 07:19 PM
Heck, I'd buy some of those POS V8 clunkers just to see if I could combine them into something useful. (In the late 80s I dickered down a $500 POS Plymouth Fury II police car to $300 because it wouldn't start and had a flat. I came back with a fresh battery and a mounted tire, fired it up and drove it off. Fixed it up. Used it to deliver pizzas, made $500/week cash, ran it for 3 years, and the guy I bought it from kept trying to buy it back.)
Those POS V8s can be useful. They're just a bit 'dirty'.
Posted by: JorgXMcKie | January 26, 2009 at 11:33 PM