This Cash Cow’s a Clunker
Aug 02, 2009
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Maybe I’m just bitter because I (finally, it took me 3 years) just watched the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car, but I’m dubious about the Cash for Clunker scheme, which the Obama Administration and Congress has extended because of its crazy success.
On paper, it seems like a good idea. If you have a car that’s up to 25 years old, gets 18 miles per gallon or less, and you’ve owned and insured for a year, you can trade it in, get a car that gets minimum 10 miles per gallon more, and then receive up to a $4,500 rebate for a new car.
Then again, I wonder what the point is: if we’re simply reselling the cars overseas, that doesn’t solve the environmental problems—though apparently these cars are getting crushed and shredded. Hopefully, that means “recycled.” There are also news stories about, from NPR to Fox, stating that folks have been able to get away with buying new cars that only have incrementally better gas mileage than the gas guzzlers for which they traded.
To me, it’s just giving Detroit another lifeline and handout. They’ve been selling us poorly made cars for years, resisted any increase in fuel mileage standards, and have left a legacy of horrific air quality from LA to Houston to New York. Watching that documentary infuriated me: here we had a great program here in California to wean us off of foreign oil, and these little electric cars were a hit—in fact, they seemed have started a cult . . . one I would have been thrilled to have joined. But alas, the oil companies cried foul, this great technology was demonized, and we fell for President Bush’s hydrogen snake oil.
Finally, before I sign off, this whole stimulus package has been a disappointment. For the Obama crowd to crow about this programs success leaves me asking . . . “what about the other $779 billion or so??” . . . the green technology initiatives are not quite enough, the marginal supplements to unemployment checks just goes to rent or credit card debt, and telecommunications companies are not biting on the offer to extend broadband to rural areas—it’s just not making financial sense for them to make this investment.
To quote my favorite sitcom character, Pasty Stone: “I’m not happy!” 