Cash for Clunkers

Today, that clunker of yours suddenly becomes worth far more than you could get selling it. Cash for Clunkers is a hair-brained idea conjured up by well-meaning, but left-leaning bureaucrats. There are lots of little caveats, but basically, if you turn in your older car for a new, more fuel-efficient car, the government helps out in getting you into the new car.

If you're of the Utopian bent, sounds like a wonderful society-changing plan that nobody in their right mind could be opposed to.

But on the ground -- like most utopian policies -- it's a different story.

Environmentalists are now finding themselves sharing uncommon common ground with conservatives, for very different reasons. Conservatives don't like the concept because it's expensive wealth redistrubution. Environmentalists don't like it because, well, it's not environmentally friendly, for a number of reasons:

1. It prompts folks to go out and buy new cars -- It takes a lot of resources and emissions to produce a new car. Think of the mining that has to be done for all the metal parts of a car. Auto workers have to drive to and from the car manufacturer. The new cars have to be shipped once they're off the assembly line.... you get the idea. So that leaves one wondering, "How is Cash for Clunkers environmentally friendly when it promotes consumption?" Many have made the point that there are a lot of used vehicles that get good mileage that are just waiting for a good home.

2. In some cases yesterday's clunker sedans got worse mileage than today's SUV's, so it's feared that trading in the clunker will subsidize an SUV market that environmentalists had hoped was dead for good. (I don't personally care, but the environmentalists HATE it.)

3. This is turning out to be more a big fat subsidy to the car companies than an environmental policy. The initial idea was to make sure that the new car would get 25 per cent better gas mileage than the old. Lobbyists got a hold of it and watered it down so that it's not going to do much good.

4. For the financially smart consumer, buying new - even with a fat subsidy from the government - is foolish. Cars lose almost half their value in the first three years of use. So, if you buy a three-year-old car, you'll save far more than what the government will give you... But, then again, you won't be able to show off to your neigbors and friends how rich you're trying to look by having a brand new outfit.

I chalk this up to intentions meaning more than results. Sadly, in Washington, they've lost contact with caring about what works.