Guest NewsBot Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 DETROIT (AP) -- The government's "cash-for-clunkers" program drew car and truck buyers back to American showrooms last month, making July the best month for auto sales in nearly a year and offering powerful evidence that the rebates were working as senators debate whether to continue them.... By KEN THOMAS and TOM KRISHER Read the full story. Quote
RoyalOrleans Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 Well look at what we have here .. a government program that couldn't be properly executed. I'm sure you've been following the giant "oops" that is this "cash for clunkers" deal. The first sign that things were going bad happened when the EPA decided to change which cars were eligible for the program AFTER it had already started. Then the $1 billion allotted to the program quickly disappeared. Then we have government computers that couldn't handle the work. Finally cash-for-clunkers became the clunker. So what's the logical next step? Let's ask for more money! So the House voted on Friday to give the program another $2 billion. Now it is on to the Senate where it may not be as easy to pass. If it doesn't pass in the Senate, Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood says that the government would probably then kill the program. Meanwhile, car dealerships are left to figure out what to do. Are you paying attention to this? The whole cash-for-clunkers bit shut down last week because of government bureaucracy and a little problem about running out of money. For generations car salesmen in every corner of this country have been handling the paperwork required to trade in an old car for a new one with ease. After all, how many of you have ever visited a car dealer wanting to trade in a clunker on a new car, only to be told to go away because they just can't process your paperwork. But ... put government into the equation and what happens? All hell breaks loose, that's what happens. The Imperial Federal Government of the United States interposed federal red tape into the middle of the buyer-used car salesman transaction and everything ground to a screaming halt. How much paper and red tape? Try 130 pages of regulations for a start. How many car salesmen do you think have to deal with a 130-page rule book when they take a car in on trade for a new one. Now John McCain is likely to filibuster any proposal in the Senate for new money. The Republicans are playing this one up as just another example of government's inability to run anything efficiently. Considering the current healthcare debate, this does not bode well for the Obama administration that wants the government to be in charge of your healthcare. Jim DeMint is one of those Senators who are drawing the comparison. He says, "The federal government went bankrupt in one week in the used-car business, and now they want to run our health care system ... This is crazy to try to rush this thing through again while they're trying to rush through health care, and they want to get on to cap-and-trade electricity tax. We've got to slow this thing down." OK ... so the government screwed things up royally when politicians inserted government into car sales. Just what in the hell do you think is going to happen when we insert even more government into your relationship with your doctor? If government bureaucracy screws up a car sale, think of what it is going to do for a treatment plan for your cancer. Quote To be the Man, you've got to beat the Man. - Ric Flair Everybody knows I'm known for dropping science.
phreakwars Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 Cash for clunkers is AWESOME. It figures you guys would cut it down and call it a failure. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw_8JuRbAdg]YouTube - Cash For Clunkers - GOP Comes Out Against It[/ame] Hell no it ain't!! Thanks to the program, my wife, who was working less then 40 hours a week, is now looking at continuous overtime with no sign of ending. She makes car seats for the Ford Escape hybrid. Her department, and several other departments are running full steam ahead to keep up with the demands. Ford DID have a 180 day supply of cars out there, now thanks to the program, they are down to a 50 day. They usually try to keep it at around 65 day. This is the word at almost every damn car manufacturer and car parts manufacturers all across America. GM recently announced they were rehiring almost every worker at a plant in Michigan. People who were layed off now have jobs. Car dealers who had slumping sales now have record breaking sales. What kind of bullshiit is that cutting down this program? Another point to be made is the SALES TAX money generated for all these towns. The government screwed up? Sure, they did. They never anticipated it would be so popular. The program was pegged to be ran until November but ran out of cash in a week. The systems were never setup to be overwhelmed with such a turn out. HELL YEAH !! It's a PATHETIC argument at best to say it was a bad idea. The Republicans are about to blow a gasket that the Presidents plan has helped America so much, they try and turn it around and call it something else... nice try, but YOU FAIL. Now you wanna try and say "WELL SEE HEALTH CARE WILL BE THE SAME WAY, ALL SCREWED UP" HA!! We could only hope a public health care plan would be the same. If cash for clunkers is any indication of the way health care under Obama would turn out, I say BRING IT ON. It's exactly what America needs. . . . . Quote https://www.facebook.com/phreakwars
phreakwars Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPHUNcE5ig0]YouTube - Message to Wingnuts[/ame] Quote https://www.facebook.com/phreakwars
RoyalOrleans Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 Is this cash for clunkers program actually going to impact the number of car sales? It will affect only the timing of new car sales, not the total sales. Cash for clunkers is Obamanomics in microcosm Quote To be the Man, you've got to beat the Man. - Ric Flair Everybody knows I'm known for dropping science.
timesjoke Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 We could only hope a public health care plan would be the same. If cash for clunkers is any indication of the way health care under Obama would turn out, I say BRING IT ON. It's exactly what America needs. So underestimate the cost of a program to get it passed then when you run out of money to fund the program go back and ask for more money? Yep, sound like a Government plan to me. The problem is the scale Bender. This clunker plan was a drop of water in the ocen compared to healthcare and shortfall in funding will not be measured in 1 or 2 billion dollar increments. Quote
hugo Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 I will confess that the cash for clunkers program, unlike most of the so-called stimulus packages, does provide short term benefits to the economy. There is a future problem when you subsidize the purchase of a durable good for a limited time period; that problem is sales of that durable good will suffer in future years. The car companies, and their employees, better sock away some of the money they are earning now. Quote The power to do good is also the power to do harm. - Milton Friedman "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." - James Madison
RoyalOrleans Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 I will confess that the cash for clunkers program, unlike most of the so-called stimulus packages, does provide short term benefits to the economy. There is a future problem when you subsidize the purchase of a durable good for a limited time period; that problem is sales of that durable good will suffer in future years. The car companies, and their employees, better sock away some of the money they are earning now. Not to mention the guys in the "junkyard business" or the "spare parts business". Salvage dealers: sock away money NOW! Quote To be the Man, you've got to beat the Man. - Ric Flair Everybody knows I'm known for dropping science.
eddo Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 Not to mention the guys in the "junkyard business" or the "spare parts business". Salvage dealers: sock away money NOW! and those that still cannot afford new cars, and are gonna have a harder time now finding reliable used cars- or used parts for their current cars... Quote I'm trusted by more women.
timesjoke Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 You guys make good points, extra sales now means fewer sales later. Quote
ImWithStupid Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 I'm sure that the uptick of new car sales is good for many businesses but if it is just propped up and not kept up it could cause problems later. Kind of like how retailers love when people buy gift cards for Christmas presents. It spreads out the sales transactions over a longer period of time. Quote
RoyalOrleans Posted August 6, 2009 Posted August 6, 2009 Top auto makers launch their own private version of the cash-for-clunkers plans. Let's see if that works out any better than the government's attempt. Quote To be the Man, you've got to beat the Man. - Ric Flair Everybody knows I'm known for dropping science.
eddo Posted August 6, 2009 Posted August 6, 2009 Top auto makers launch their own private version of the cash-for-clunkers plans. Let's see if that works out any better than the government's attempt. very nice. I love the last two lines of that: The American system doing what it does best. When it is allowed to. Quote I'm trusted by more women.
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.