Say Anything Blog

Just in time for rock-bottom oil prices comes a stroke of brilliance from Congress: “Let’s use the taxpayers’ money to buy from them the sort of cars we don’t want them to have if they’ll promise to buy the sort of vehicle we want them to drive!”

Congress is considering a “Cash for Clunkers” bill that would give people a $4,500 voucher to trade in their “gas guzzlers” for certain fuel efficient models.

In my opinion this is the ultimate win/win for buyers, dealers, and the auto makers.

• Buyers get help in buying a newer model that will get better mileage, and therefore help them save money. Granted, $4,500 ain’t exactly winning the lottery, but it’s something. With the economy in the tank, every little bit will help a lot people make the numbers work to buy a car.

• Dealers benefit by having a new incentive program spur traffic. Yes, consumer confidence is still the main reason sales are depressed, but these vouchers could spark more showroom traffic and ultimately sales.

• Auto makers would be helped by having a program that could push demand, especially for more fuel efficient models. With cars lasting longer, even gas guzzlers are holding up. Lately, that’s made people say, “ok, I may not like this boat I’m driving, but it does the job for now.”

• The environment would also get a break as this program could take tens of thousands gas guzzlers off the street. By one estimate, the program could save 40,000-80,000 barrels of motor fuel a day at the end of the offer.

Here are the problems:

First, most people own SUV’s (which are generally more expensive than their more fuel-efficient counterparts) because they want to drive an SUV.  Meaning that they aren’t likely to trade in their vehicle of choice for something else for a measly $4,500.  People who do use this program are going to be people who were going to switch from an SUV to something lighter anyway.  Like maybe a family trading off the old Suburban for something small and efficient for one of the kids.

Second, as we see with gun buy back programs (which have been shown time and gain to be failures) most of what you’re going to get traded in for these vouchers are going to be junk that was just a few years from being taken off the road anyway.

Third, since when is it the government’s job to try and pressure us into driving one sort of vehicle over another?  And to use our tax dollars to do it, no less?  Isn’t this still a free country?  Or should we just have Congress mandate what vehicles we can drive just like they’ve mandated what kind of light bulbs we can use?

They’re close to that anyway with CAFE standards.  This is just another step in the wrong direction.  Another move against our freedom and liberty done, as most of these sort of moves are these days, in the name of “climate change.”