Cash for clunkers the final death toll!

[jimincalif]

A Corvette being executed under a C4C death sentence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTYL-h5_hb4

[Kevin1]

Cash for clunkers has been an unqualified success getting cars moving off the lot and restarting the supply chain, no doubt about it. It could have been implemented differently, leaving the door open for more people to qualify. Why exclude someone for realizing they could save a ton of fuel when they bought their Honda Civic in 1988? If the program simply required a 30% improvement in mileage over the car being traded in, the guy driving the old Civic (27mpg) could get himself into a new Civic,Insight, Prius, Jetta TDI, . . . and take advantage of the rebate.
Maybe there will be a third round to this program. After it ends on Monday sales will likely fall back to where they were before the program began. We need to keep the momentum up!

[katsi]

This program was not one that benefited Democrats or Republicans, it benefited businesses that sell cars, people that owned cars whose value or problems (condition) limited their salability. It is going to benefit the car companies, the people they employ and the subcontractors that make the parts the cars are built up from. This was a program that allowed people to make free choices in their purchases with few restrictions beyond ownership, registration and proof of insured-ness.

You paint a pretty picture but, lets wait untill the dust settles and find out just how well auto sellers benifited from being screwed out of 4500 bones per sale. Not to mention - THIS DID NOT WORK FOR THE HOUSING MARKET - Forclosures are kinda similar to REPOS!

[mdrburchette]

It all looks good on paper, but don't forget we gotta pay for that money somehow, with interest! I think all the program is doing is giving false numbers and therefore, a false sense of security from the recession.

[So Cal Mark]

clunker money is chump change compared to what we threw at Wall St, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

[Kevin1]

clunker money is chump change compared to what we threw at Wall St, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

Mark, I'm getting the impression you like stirring the pot!

C for C is over now. The best we can hope for is that it will have had some "kickstart" effect on the economy. Denise is right, though, and I have to agree with her. Eventually the time comes to pay the bills, and it is going to be a whole lot harder than most people believe it will be. We are not only 4 trillion in the hole, but we are accruing interest on it every day. Had all that recovery money been given to average people instead of banks we would have seen a surge of economic activity a hundred times greater than what the banks have managed so far.

[Newell33]

[mbouse]

i predict a minimum of $5.00 per gallon gasoline before 12/31/2010 as a NEW tax to begin to pay for all these economic stimulus packages.

[narfire]

Mike,forwarded your name ect. to a local here who has put together a FI 80. He desperately needs a short shifter,seems the stick is close to the top of the dash
Also here in the valley the 94 octane at Chevron is $1.24L or $4.56 us gal (5.45 imp gal) and next year we get more taxes cause the forest industry is in the tank and the gov. has to make up the shortfall somewhere.
Glad I bought an old VW.

[wengr]

i predict a minimum of $5.00 per gallon gasoline before 12/31/2010 as a NEW tax to begin to pay for all these economic stimulus packages.

Yes, I recall during the primary, while gas was near an all time high, Obama stating "the problem is not $4 dollar gasoline, the problem is we got there too quickly". This administration would be happy to tax you into driving less. So much for "progressive taxation"

[So Cal Mark]

just remember the former dictator that started us on the road to record deficits, rampant unemployment and foreclosures. Maybe we could bring him back to fix what he f##ked up . I'm just a tad confused at the lack of complaints over the trillions given away to KBR, Blackwater, Wall St, AIG, the "Big" 3, credit card cos. etc, but pages of wailing over the little guy getting a break on a new car. If I didn't know better I'd think this was a forum for CEOs instead of old Italian cars

[Newell33]

How's California workin' out for ya?...lol

[mbouse]

narfire--thanks.

mark-- if this were a forum of professional accountants or bankers, i'd expect discussions like that... but (sadly for your point) this is a forum of car nuts. so, we naturally talk about political topics surrounding cars; not banking or finance.

[Kevin1]

And getting back to breaks for the average guy, I found this program today. Cash for Appliances!
"This latest economic stimulus program will pump $300 million into the slumping appliance industry by offering rebates, up to $200, to customers who buy Energy-Star rated appliances. "

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/08 ... d8c2e.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... e=business

Not quite like being handed billions of bailout dollars, but at least the money is going in the right direction.

[mdrburchette]

Mark, I'm starting to get a feeling you lean toward being a Democrat. No problem. That may work out for me. How would you like to spread the wealth and donate an electronic distributor?