President Obama proclaims the now bankrupt "cash for clunkers" program as an overwhelming success. The state of the economy is such, apparently, that when middle class people take free money it is a cause to be celebrated. Now of course, the middle class market for new cars is not the only segment to benefit from this largess. Since the $4500 is a "voucher" to be used at car dealerships, it is ultimately a gift from the government directly to the pockets of some of the same executives who demonstrated their utter incompetence by failing to avoid bankruptcy AFTER receiving a bailout from the government.
Now, one could say that the point of the program was to benefit the environment. 200,000 inefficient cars are off the road, says our dear leader. Well lets take a quick look at the numbers. The eligibility requirement for the program were cars with <18MPG. The replacement cars must have a combined MPG of 22. This 4mpg difference is unlikely to produce an improvement in the environment commensurate with the price of the program, not to mention the environmental cost of building, and destroying 200,000 automobiles. Like many of the recent democratic proposals, this seems to be a political ploy to avoid responsibility for the party's ineptness.
