Subsidize Vaccines, Not V8’s
Friday morning I watched an interview on CNBC with Mike Jackson, the CEO of AutoNation, who, at present, is the Michael Jackson that matters.
He talked about the substantial increase in customer traffic he’s seeing on his lots as a result of the Cash For Clunkers program, in which the government takes $4,500 of taxpayer money to help fund the purchase of a new car by someone who trades in an old one that gets lousy mileage. Knowing a handout disguised as a stimulus program when they see one, savvy Americans burned through the billion dollars allocated to the program in 4 days, not the 4 months the government anticipated.
Further justification (as if more was needed) for a total lack of faith in government projections and economic reports.
Our elected officials, quick to spot a winner when they saw one (it’s always past tense with them), are feverishly trying to take another 2 billion smackers out of the taxpayer’s pockets, those being yours and mine, and subsidize additional car purchases by wily fellow citizens. One of the morsels Jackson revealed was that the credit worthiness of the people taking advantage of the Clunkers program was, as a whole, better than the average customer his company’s used to seeing.
Why exactly am I helping to buy new cars for people with good credit? For that matter, why would I want to help buy new cars for people with tainted credit? I make car payments every month, and I certainly wish they were smaller. So why does the program benefit those whose needs conveniently fit into the time frame the government decreed? How about a 10-15% reduction in MY car payments?
Better yet, how about using that money to re-train auto workers to do something in an industry that won’t need constant support for the next couple of decades? The auto industry is like a drunkard at 1AM on a Sunday morning with his left arm draped over one pal’s shoulder and his right arm over another’s, being helped out of the Bailout Bar and Grill yet again and safely tucked into a cab. One that was made in Japan.
Please don’t mistake the above for a lack of willingness to do a good turn for others. I’m quite happy, for example, to see the government using taxpayer dollars to buy enough swine flu virus to immunize us all, regardless of each citizen’s ability to pay.
Now that’s universal health care.
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Not sure I agree. We have an economic crisis and this is a plan that is actually popular and working. It’s helped one of our backbone industries, got demand back up, is helping the environment, and decreasing dependency on foreign oil. What exactly is the bad part? Your tax money could be spent on MUCH worse things.
Hi Bud. I believe that your points are correct over a very short time frame. I believe the plan is now set to expire around Labor Day. If demand continues at or close to this pace following the expiration of the program then I’d have to agree that you’re right. If demand drops back down to pre-program levels, then the stimulus didn’t hit a threshold that makes it anything more than an expensive cheap thrill.
And I’ve never before felt upset about paying taxes and believe that too much wealth transfer (and I’m not even close to wealthy) is going to take the wind out of the entrepreneurial animal spirits that can help the country grow out of the economic mess we’re in.
Time will tell. Stay in touch. LK