I neglected to mention another group of Americans that were, and still are, being negatively impacted by this terrible government program.
Many U.S. charities convert used cars to cash by selling them at auction and then use that money to fund social services for the needy, including the elderly, the homeless, disabled vets and at-risk youths.
What frustrates me the most, is that the gain to the automotive industry was temporary and has since been reversed as their sales plummet, while the damage to real people like the elderly, vets, the poor, the disabled and mom and pop used car lots and repair shops is permanent and irreversible.
The government traded a temporary gain that makes them look like heroes on TV, for permanent damage to people who don’t get TV time.
Politicians never, never ever, consider the collateral damages or unintended consequences of their actions. If they had consulted a single economist, the lists of people, companies and organizations that would be negatively impacted by a given program would be shown to far outweigh the short term gains.
Politics is what sounds good on paper, no matter how destructive it is in reality upon implementation.
As a small example of the hundreds of charities that are negatively affected by this government program, according to a recent Reuters article, The Military Order of the Purple Heart that relies on used car donations estimates they will be out $105 million over 24 months due directly to the Cash-For-Clunkers program. “That will be devastating, a lot of services will have to be cut.”
So just add one more reason to the pile of reasons I listed before as to why this program was such a terrible idea. Again, where the private sector makes decisions based on the demands of actual living human beings, the government makes decisions based on the demands of politics.
What idea, law or regulation makes a good soundbite or video op on the 6 o’clock news for the politicians? What can they give to some larger group that is taken from some different smaller group securing that larger groups vote?
Government looks out for itself, not for us.
Categories: Cash For Clunkers
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