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8/7/2009
What kind of country can afford to just wreck good stuff?
I guess it’s completely old-fashioned to abhor wastefulness. So yesterday. Amid the news that the impact on our environment of getting rid of all these “low-mpg” cars is minimal, we’re seeing perfectly good vehicles stacking up on auto dealers’ lots, awaiting government permission to destroy them.
Ok. It’s another government gift to the auto industry. And lots of folks are gleaning lots of free bucks and they’re buying brand spankin’ new cars. All well and good I suppose.
And yes, some real clunkers are coming off the road. Great.
Like the old Dodge Caravan that smelled so bad, could barely be driven but made it to Smart's dealership…."It appears as if it was stored in a horse barn for a long time, and it had some windows missing."
…."We had one that was held together with duct tape.... About 20 years old; I could not figure out how that car even ran." But isn’t it mostly just wasteful?
How many of you, when you were a kid, reveled in the hand-me-down car that may or may not have run well, that was just the ticket for toodling around town and, if you were allowed, getting back and forth to school. Have we come so far from that? Does every 16 year-old get a brand spankin’ new car these days?
"There are some cream puffs coming off the road and some real rats coming off the road," said Steve Liermann, president of Niks Auto Parts in Neenah.
"I've had some absolutely beautiful cars, a 1998 Dodge Caravan with only 56,000 miles on it and not a speck of rust or a ding on it," he said. "I've had a half-dozen Ford Explorers, including three of the same color. It's like triplets standing side by side, and they're just spotless cars. There's nothing wrong with them." Wasteful. Completely wasteful. What country, what society, is so well off, what government so able to go deep into debt, that we can just throw some of these vehicles away? Ok, I’m pretty old I guess. My friends and I drove some pretty beat up cars. And we were glad to have them. My friends? And my mom! She didn’t have a car for many years, and then it was this 1949 BelAir, as I’m remembering. And then one of those pink and gray Ramblers whose distributor had to be dried in the oven when it rained. Oh my.
And then there’s supposed to be some huge environmental benefit from recycling these things. Yeah right.
Liermann said he's concerned that dealers aren't required to send clunkers to certified auto recyclers, which meet stringent environmental standards for ensuring that hazardous substances like mercury are removed before cars are junked or shredded.
"If we're doing the right thing for the environment you'd think we'd be recycling all these cars," he said. "A lot of these vehicles are going straight from the dealership to the shredder. In my mind that's totally wasteful." Typical government program. Take the bad with the good. And there’s lots of bad with this program. Does it make sense to you?
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
It's a nice spiff for the elite. I sincerely doubt that the working middle class or working poor who (in theory at least) were intended to benefit from this plan are actually the ones who will see the majority of the rebates.
Too many flaming hoops to jump through.
Those who probably COULD afford to buy a car anyway and DON'T need the help but simply have not made the CHOICE to buy another are the ones who will get the majority of those $4,500 checks.
Those who NEED the help, probably couldn't get the financing or didn't have the 1 year of insurance on their "junker".
Government shouldn't be in the business of behavior modificaton through incentives any more than it should be in the business of penalizing through taxation. Government should be in the business of getting out of our way so we can live our lives as we choose.
Then again, I'm "old school", I actually believe that we're supposed to read and understand the meaning of that pesky old document called The Constitution. I guess my day has passed.
Jeff (Fri Aug 07 06:52:44 2009)
I read recently that income tax collection by the government is down by up to 18% this year. Yet there is money for this program, and spending is up. Something does not make sense. Any child can see that. We need leadership in the White House. The Man/Child is not up to the task.
David (Fri Aug 07 07:45:45 2009)
It makes perfect sense, when you consider that the bankers et al that hold B.O.'s puppet strings are probably looking to send the USA down the toilet so they can find a new playground. After all, Soros called the financial meltdown the "culmination of his life's work." And Rockefeller used the unions and their strikes in the late 1800s, to shut down competitors.
Just watch "America: Freedom to Fascism" and/or read "Murder by Injection" (I found both online) and you'll realize there's more to what's going on than just party politics.
emily matthews (Fri Aug 07 16:01:03 2009)
I have this one in my "Do -Gooders doing BAD" file.
Reduces the supply and therefor increases the price of used cars, hurting the poor who might benefit from updating their $500 car to one that might be worth $2000 or more,
The 21st Century version of killing pigs because people were hungry, as FDR did back in the 30's. Not surprising, as I always believed BHO to be at least as ignorant and misguided as FDR.
Ken Van Doren (Fri Aug 07 22:36:41 2009)
This is just another example of lefty insanity. They're pushing all the other kinds of recycling programs, but apply another standard to autos because it fits their global warming agenda, and that trumps the general recycling mantra. Their goal is for everyone to drive what THEY want us to drive. What a scam.
Soapbox Jill (Sun Aug 09 09:47:15 2009)
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