Comments on: Can the Economy be Restored by Destroying Perfectly Good Cars? Obama Thinks So. Cash For Clunkers in Action

By: cosmicgnome

cosmicgnome — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:58:43 +0000

How nice for the liberal elitists. They can pat themselves on the back for getting those older less environmental friendly old vehicles gone forever.
If you are an independentaly employed person that might have gotten a job requiring a “work truck” and found none available, you might not be so cheery.
Doesn’t have to be a work truck. Those cars with 100k and more on them are what is needed for basic transportation to earn a living. Think of the new sales person who can make a buck if they had cheap transport.
Another example of favoring the special interests over the interests of those that are Self Based Supply. The very people that will get out there and hustle for their dollars,, the sort that will get the economy rolling. The group that is expanding everyday through choice or circumstance. The group that is taking it the hard way in order to subsidize the diminishing number of union members. Those serving the economy and earning a living independantly.

By: ctyankee44

ctyankee44 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:45:12 +0000

Sounds good. Let’s start by building a large supply of pithing jars — That’s how we studied insects and vermin in biology 101.

At lease the jars would represent new capital investment.

Uh-oh, now I’ve gone and convinced the Left that I’m into genoci… wait… Isn’t Presbo the one advocating end of life decisions and health care rationing??? Darn it! These topics get sooooo confusing.

Let’s go back and examine the premise: Prolonged study of the Left.

My professors taught me that you should only study a problem when you believe you can uncover some new fact of nature or produce something of benefit to both your knowledge and the collection of all hooman[sic] knowledge. I submit that we can look at history to conclude the Left is a Chaotic System. And while chaos is interesting; there are no deep ‘truths’ contained therein.

I believe we can conclude that the Left are insane, and the best course of action is simply to bar them from public office for cause.

By: redneck_hippie

redneck_hippie — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:21:55 +0000

gets too much gas milage to qualify (waaaay to much gas mileage). I messed up and got rid of my previous clunkers (both Chevies) by SELLING them to the kind of people who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to find an affordable AND reliable car. This program is an object lesson in liberal waste and stupidity, as if we needed any more of those.

Can we start a Cash for Critters program? I think the Ds have more than a couple of inefficent air polluters.

By: Xasteius

Xasteius — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:07:53 +0000

As a proud owner of a 170000 mile plus Saturn (and an engineer), it pains me to see good vehicles go to waste.

By: Dave_in_Fla

Dave_in_Fla — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:45:06 +0000

Killed a freaking Corvette. I hope whoever’s brilliant idea this was rots in Hell. I wish I had seen the guy driving that onto the lot, I would have given $5K on the spot, and I don’t need another car.

By: Deskpilot

Deskpilot — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:30:56 +0000

I can understand immobilizing the engine of a clunker, especially a really old, very bad condition.
But what of potential for auto salvagers to hire more people to capture the perfectly good parts, and sell them off to reconditioning companies who would hire more people to process them so that the “working poor” could afford repairs with high quality remanufactured parts.
An increase in supply might lead some to be shade tree mechanis or pay a local mechanic for repairs.
With a drop in the supply of cores for parts, prices of aftermarket parts are likely to rise.
Some of the vehicles in those videos had a heap of potential in the parts market.
Power steering pumps, fuel pumps, radiatorsperfectly good panels could have helped make ugly, running cars look better.
My neighbor would be a perfect example. He is in the market for a new front quarter panel and door. He can’t afford the body whole shop work, but he has the ability to do the work himself. The near by body shop would then get the paint work. Now, no parts,no panels, no nothing, but an ugly, high fuel mileage car.

By: noufa

noufa — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:08:31 +0000

They feel good about upgrading to a more fuel efficient Prius & didn’t want their old car on the road, belching out CO2. Sometimes feeling good is more important than cash. That’s why I give to charities.

By: skorrent1

skorrent1 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:07:53 +0000

Has reinstituted plowing under crops and burying piglets for the modern age. It worked so well the first time.

By: antisocial

antisocial — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:53:23 +0000

By: johnt

johnt — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:21:30 +0000

Maybe sixty years ago Hazlitt wrote “Economics in One Lesson”.
He pointed out the fallacy of expecting real economic growth from reconstruction of damaged cities. If such growth were tangible we should commence smashing widows, replacing them, and enjoying the economic benefits.
Nothing is learned on the Left, truly their stupidity is a phenomenon worthy of massive and prolonged study.

JoeG above should be careful, some liberal dope in a position of influence may think his post is a good idea and suggest lighting the torches.

By: blooch

blooch — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:57:37 +0000

many people don’t want to expend the effort and time selling their car themselves, where they stand a better chance of getting a good price than trading in at a dealer. If they’re willing to forgo that potential extra money, they’re likely to accept a really low trade-in valuation by the dealer, even if the trade-in is not that old.. Most people haggle over the new car price, not the trade-in price. I bet trade-in valuation was, on average, somewhat less than $4500 before Cash for Clunkers started.

By: Socrates

Socrates — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:52:01 +0000

Other creative uses:

- Donate dead cars for homeless people to live in.

We are told there are millions of homeless children starving in our streets because of failed Bush policies, which would appear to be an even more urgent need than assisting SUV owners with the trade-in.

Of course, there is the problem of upgrading the cars to modern city codes for solar power, plumbing, heating, and digital cable television, though an exception could be made for those who would rather have a satellite dish.

- Check under all of the seat cushions for spare change. That would pay for itself.

- Retrofit the old cars to run on natural gas.

OK, strike that last one. It’s absurd to even suggest that these clunkers could have any practical use.

By: JoeG

JoeG — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:41:26 +0000

The solution to a lack of car sales was to crush usable vehicles.

They could apply the same logic to the glut of foreclosed houses. Take taxpayer money, buy them up and burn them to the ground.

It makes about as much sense as the clunker program…

By: loganyung

loganyung — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:15:38 +0000

Can someone educate me on how this works, because something doesn’t seem right. In order for this to be a significant deal to the clunker-owner, the value of the clunker would have to be worth less than $4,500. If the destiny of the clunker is the trash pile, there is no trade-in value. Do all of these cars look like they are worth substantially less than $4,500? If not, why are people participating in this program??

By: blooch

blooch — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:58:29 +0000

http://fatfinch.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/the-great-sparrow-wars/

Commies…sheesh.

By: stixxxnstones

stixxxnstones — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:37:45 +0000

Know what I noticed about all those videos? Let’s take them in chronological order:

1.) American truck. (Chrysler)
2.) American car. (GM)
3.) American car. (GM)
4.) American car (GM)
5.) American truck (Ford)
6.) American car (Volvo owned by Ford)
7.) American SUV (GM)

One wonders where the Honda/Toyota clunkers are

By: Brad Smith

Brad Smith — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:29:49 +0000

See, if the Obama Administration had any imagination, they would have at least destroyed the “clunkers” by sponsoring demolition derbies all over the country. After all, it is the time of year for state and county fairs. “Obama’s Demolition Derbymania!” would have been a popular program, and distracted people from the Administration’s health care debacle.

By: Moe Lane

Moe Lane — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:07:13 +0000

These people messed up giving away free money.

By: Brian Hibbert

Brian Hibbert — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:56:53 +0000

I’d guess that most of the people taking advantage of the program would have upgraded their cars within a year anyway. They may have moved their purchase date up a few months to take advantage of a good deal (for them), but they were going to buy these cars anyway. The small fraction who weren’t going to buy anyway probably should have saved their money instead. (Anyone remember the mortgage problems we just went through?)

What I expect to see when the next few quarterly reports come out from the auto makers is:
1. a huge spike in sales while the clunker program was in effect.
2. a sharp spike DOWN in sales for the next quarter.
3. After a few quarters, a return to normal sales volumes.

This program may look successful now, but it’s overall effect is sales neutral at best. And that doesn’t take into account some of the side effects:
1. Increase in taxpayer debt.
2. Severe drop in donations to Cars for Kids and similar charities.
3. Removal of a large set of reasonably nice cars from the used market, making used cars more expensive for those of us that can’t afford to buy new.