Special thanks to Silverback for contributing this post on the Cash for Clunkers program and the positive spin within the media.
Results be damned, right?
Do Obamniacs and the MSM really believe that Cash for Clunkers is a good program simply because people are willing to take free money?
Why not stand on a street corner and hand out $100 bills? I’ll bet that will be “successful”, too.
The facts are simple:
1) This program destroys produced goods, keeping them out of the hands of people who would otherwise trade them. This is bad for the economic long-term.
2) The used car market is being squeezed by fewer available cars, fewer buyers. This sector is being hurt to help another and prices will go up.
3) This is another “sub-prime” scheme. People who shouldn’t be spending on a new car are. In a few months, watch the defaults tick up.
4) The market for cheap (recycled) auto parts is being hurt. (See #2.)
5) This is an extremely transparent way of shielding the auto union workers from the recession – all at the cost of taxpayer money. Why not just give the money back to the taxpayers and let them decide whether to spend it on a motorcycle or clothes or in another sector of the economy? Answer: because this isn’t for the benefit of the taxpayers. It’s for the UAW. Plain and simple.
