Buh Bye Cash For Clunkers - Program Crashes, Burns

Wait for it. Because  the announcement of the end of the Cash for Clunkers program combines that special type of honesty you can only get when government and the media both join in. Read the third graph.

The dealers haven't gotten their money, don't know when they will. That means the financing, or loss of investment potential on said capital is theirs to eat ... but it was a life line for the auto industry! At whose expense? Oh, don't worry. The dealers are politically active on both sides of the aisle. That means they'll likely get a bump if need be to cover costs and their end will come from you. Because bailout means never having to say you're sorry, or something like that.

And now all those "clunkers," read serviceable older vehicles in many cases, are filled with sodium silicate and off the market, driving up the cost of used cars! It's win win! Just not for you and me my friends! Obama might not do wine from water, yet ... but the liberal messiah sure does make a lot of something out of nothing every chance he gets.

The popular cash-for-clunkers government program, which gave U.S. consumers discounts of up to $4,500 for a new-vehicle purchase, will end Monday, Aug. 24, at 8 p.m. After that, dealers are not permitted to make any more sales of cars with clunker rebates.

As an incentive to boost sagging car sales and offset the negative pull of joblessness, falling home prices, and a shaky stock market, the clunkers program was a raving success. Since kicking off the last week of July, the federal government estimates, the program spurred some 700,000 new car and truck sales. Early estimates were it would take three months for consumers to burn through $3 billion set aside by Congress for the program. Instead, it took less than a month.

"This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump-starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "At the same time, we've been able to take old, polluting cars off the road and help consumers purchase fuel-efficient vehicles."

Comments

[MarkJ]

"This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump-starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood."

Yeah, and look for monkeys to fly out of Ray LaHood's a** in 3...2...1....

[WAHOO WILLIE]

Mark, I hope the flying monkeys have wreckers for towing the repos back to lenders. There will be overtime for bankers and repo guys....another shot in the economic arm. I just can't wait to turn over my health care to these geniuses..........CHAINS WE CAN BELIEVE IN

[mark l.]

a gdp question...

you "sell" a car for 20k, which basically means someone is 'promising' to pay 20k on it.

the number that goes to gdp...20k*700,000 cars? 14 billion on the books as goods sold.

wow, we just had a 14 billion dollar boom on the economy(snicker). do they 'recalibrate' when these car loans default? given the econmic climate, how many people, despite getting 4500, are going to default?

this bubble is going to be bursting for quite some time. what happens when 4q gdp flops, becuase there was pressure to buy it, now, in the 3rd q?

[Jim Nelson]

Although some of those cars were probably nearing the end of their useful life, they would normally have been cannibalized for parts. Unfortunately, dealers weren't allowed to do that, so now even many cars that weren't turned in are now harder to repair, and will have shorter useful lifespans.

Taking public transportation is reasonable for some people, but there are still lots of folks out their who really do need cars, and who can't afford to buy new ones.

I wish our political class didn't have it's head up its sphincter.

[Nick Reynolds]

Is there anything the govt. has EVER touched that hasn't gone to shit?? Anything? Anyone? Bueller? (let's be honest, partisanship aside)

[Koblog]

Cash For Clunkers is highly discriminatory.

It rewards $4,500 of my tax dollars to those who purchased gas guzzlers.

Those who purchased more fuel efficient vehicles in the first place are denied any financial discount.

Of course in reality the government is broke. The $3 billion CARS program is actually an increase to the $2 trillion deficit.

[Glenn]

Well, that didn't work. Lessee. All we hafta do is break 2 billion windows. At $20 to fix one...That's 40 billion into GDP. Next?

[Ran]

"Obama might not do wine from water, yet ..."

Better. He and his environut pals are desperate to make gold from thin air... "Cap 'n Tax."

___

"Is there anything the govt. has EVER touched that hasn't gone to shit?? Anything?"

Well, I'm thinking the Marines. Then again, Government IS force, so they'd better get that part right.

[JustOneMan]

hmmmmm....the ONLY stimulus program that DIRECTLY benefits citizens is cancelled?

But programs that add government workers to all ready bloated state budgets are expanded?

Is it me or does something smell?

[VoteThemAllOut]

Essentially this program involves giving away government money, which will increase the tax burden, and destroying productive capital - yep, that's sure to improve our situation.

Also, anyone want to bet what the new car sales graph
will
look
like
over
the
next
few
months?

[Fatty Bolger]

It says a lot about how big government works when the most effective of the stimulus programs is also one of the Dumbest Ideas Ever.

[Rob Crawford]

Folks, it's not a success until all the dealers have been reimbursed. Until then, it's thinly disguised theft.

[alanstorm]

It's been said already, but keep it going -
Let's get the same folks to run our healthcare system! Medicare, Social Security, Amtrak, The USPS: those (and many others) were all under-budget, weren't they? And didn't they solve the nuclear waste disposal problem that they promised to solve 50-60 years ago?

What could possibly go wrong?

[TexBob]

About those clunkers- Do you really believe that they will be destroyed? My bet is that they will be culled and airbags and other expensive parts with market value removed. Many of the better cars will be trucked to Mexico and, maybe, shipped on to Cuba etc, for sale. Documents proving US destruction will cost little more than a driver's license for and illegal alien.
Some car dealers, most that I have dealt with over the years, have pulled shady stuff. Now that they realize that they've forced most of the next 6 months of sales into a couple of clunker weeks and have to make revenue where they can. I can't imagine anyone in the Obama administration complaining about crookedness in the car program.

[PJ]

I smell fraud somewhere...some donor's pockets are lined with those billions.

[Trouble]

Oh boy... this crapfest involved (1) Congress and the DOT inserting itself into an industry and a marketplace that it was totally clueless about, and (2) Bastiat's Fallacy written into policy.

Epic Fail.

Gotta give 'em some credit for a good attempt at turd-polishing, though.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

As a concept it could have been a shining example of giving the people money to stimulate the economy.......until it became another failure.

[Cars4Charities]

Good bye and good riddance to cash for clunkers! It may have stimulated new car sales, but it did it at the expense of used car dealers, auto repair shops, auto parts stores, car donation charities and the poor.

[mark l.]

the beauty of c4c?

it was so bad, they had to give more money to the program, so they could repeat the error twice. as they were shoring it up, they actually told us that it was a "success" and "wildly popular".

they might as well start calling their health care scheme "wildly popular" just to see how many rubes they have left.

[filbert]

Hey, guys, I have this GREAT idea for another stimulus program . . .

MONEY FOR NOTHING!!!!

(Cue the Dire Straits music for background)

Yes, comrades, we can STIMULATE the ECONOMY into PERMANENT WEALTH and puppies, ponies, and unicorns for EVERYBODY by handing checks for ONE MILLION DOLLARS to every single man, woman, and child in the United States! Don't worry about the deficit, we'll have our guys at Goldman Sachs take care of that. We called the Chi-Coms, and they said they were good for it. We just have to give them California, but the joke is on them! California is bankrupt anyway! Ha. Ha. HAHA!

THINK of what you can do with ONE MILLION DOLLARS! You will be able to . . . buy a loaf of bread, a Carbon Credit, a band-aid (tm) or pain pill for your serious health condition, or yes! even perhaps a pickle!

Because we, your betters, the National Democratic Socialist Party of the United States, KNOW BETTER THAN YOU! and have thoughtfully, with our superior knowledge of ECONOMICS and with due concern for THE CHILDREN therefore inflated prices and destroyed the value of American currency (which all belongs to us anyway) to the point where it will take ONE MILLION DOLLARS to buy a Snickers (tm) bar!

Oh, yeah. WE WON.

/must cut down on the caffeine

[cheeflo]

"... but the liberal messiah sure does make a lot of something out of nothing every chance he gets."

Actually, he's making nothing out of something.

[Dan Treppil]

Didn't you mean to say the big 0 is "making nothing out of something every chance he gets"?