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Another bad program was the 1st time home buyers program.
It spurred buyers for about 6 months, then after they bought houses the market went flat for 6 months since all the 1st timers were no longer in the market.
Cash for Clunkers was an incredibly stupid program. It's EXACTLY the type of moronic thinking I expect out of government.
To say nothing of the fact that it forced us taxpayers to subsidize rebates and discounting that was always between the auto manufacturers and their distribution partners (car dealers), it also took 750,000 cars out of the hands of the secondary market, thus driving up prices for people that were shopping for used cars. It also did damage to the parts recyclers, as these 750,000 cars were crushed and sold for scrap metal, instead of being parted out.
The real losers? As usual, the taxpayers, especially those that actually participated in the program. A fair amount of these sales were to people who honestly couldn't afford them, and weren't planning on making a car purchase at that time. Not surprisingly, another study by CNW Market Research found repossession rates among low-credit Cash-for-Clunkers buyers more than double the industry average.
Most people don't realize just how damaging this program was. But given how our President couldn't run a lemonade stand by himself, and had surrounded himself with worthless deadweight (remember his "car czar"?), it's hardly shocking that this worthless program had its origins in the Obama Administration.
I was just having a conversation about this with my father-in-law this past weekend..... before I was even aware of this study. I will forward this news story to him so that he can remove any skepticism he may have over my comments on this failed program. He didn't seem to think I was right...... he should know by now that I'm rarely wrong LOL
I was looking at buying a used car for my oldest daughter. Prices are thru the roof. There was a big hole left in the market. Cars that should be selling on wholesale lots are retail prices 100k and above for darn near new prices.
I was looking at buying a used car for my oldest daughter. Prices are thru the roof.
Yep. We bought our oldest a 20 year old car after the program was done, and we paid a lot more than I would have expected to pay for it prior to Cash for Clunkers.
We're going to be looking for something for our youngest soon - I'm not looking forward to seeing what older used cars are going for again.
What it did was destroy a LOT of good, marketable cars, that people who are not rich would normally drive. This raised the cost of used cars, and destroyed a lot of valuable vehicles that had a lot of life left in them.
Paying to destroy valuable things... it's what liberals do.
This, this, and this. All this did was remove a lot of mid-grade used vehicles out of the market. The true clunkers are still sitting in the backyard.
It was a giant stimulus program disguised as an environmental exercise (get thirsty vehicles off the road and replace with more efficient ones). It hardly did anything at a national level for fuel consumption, and it temporarily drove the price of used cars up. It was environmentally wasteful because it destroyed 600,000 vehicles that otherwise had many years of service left.
What it did was destroy a LOT of good, marketable cars, that people who are not rich would normally drive. This raised the cost of used cars, and destroyed a lot of valuable vehicles that had a lot of life left in them.
Paying to destroy valuable things... it's what liberals do.
But the goal of the government has been achieved: more people can't afford a car, can't find a good job, need welfare or other support. And the government is happy to provide it to them.
The government grows at the expense of the middle class.
The idea that we can stimulate the economy by destroying useful assets is ludicrous on it's face. Nonetheless it does seem to come up regularly. It was debunked by 19th century economist Frederick Bastiat. What is the broken window fallacy?
Cash for Clunkers may have been the dumbest of many dumb ideas to come out of this admin.
Oh sure throw common sense, reason and logic at us.
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