Tag: cash for clunkers

If you liked Cash-for-Clunkers, you’ll love
Cash-for-Caulkers

Neil Cavuto talks to master handyman Glenn Haege about a remarkably stupid new government giveaway called “Cash-for-Caulkers.” Haege explains why a national “weatherization” program will pound more money down a rathole without creating any jobs.

Neil Cavuto talks to master handyman Glenn Haege about a remarkably stupid new government giveaway called “Cash-for-Caulkers.”

Haege explains why a national “weatherization” program will pound more money down a rathole without creating any jobs.

But, then, why should this program be any different?

(Note: We tried and tried and tried to come up with a way to use a “caulk seeker” pun, but failed. Trust us, it wasn’t a sudden a sudden outbreak of maturity that prevented it.)

Source: National Review

Great news for golfers: Obama’s economic stimulus program will pay you to buy a golf cart

Whoever designed this program must have had too many brewskis at the 19th hole. It’s like Cash-for-Clunkers on steroids.

Did anyone notice the moment when economic stimulus ended and economic madness began?
Did anyone notice the moment when economic stimulus ended and economic madness began?

Whoever designed this program must have had too many brewskis at the 19th hole. It’s like Cash-for-Clunkers on steroids.

Let’s just let the Wall Street Journal report this one while we take a few practice swings:

The federal (tax) credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart. Even in states that don’t have their own tax rebate plans, the federal credit is generous enough to pay for half or even two-thirds of the average sticker price of a cart, which is typically in the range of $8,000 to $10,000. “The purchase of some models could be absolutely free,” Roger Gaddis of Ada Electric Cars in Oklahoma said earlier this year. “Is that about the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?”

The golf-cart boom has followed an IRS ruling that golf carts qualify for the electric-car credit as long as they are also road worthy. These qualifying golf carts are essentially the same as normal golf carts save for adding some safety features, such as side and rearview mirrors and three-point seat belts. They typically can go 15 to 25 miles per hour.

In South Carolina, sales of these carts have been soaring as dealerships alert customers to Uncle Sam’s giveaway. “The Golf Cart Man” in the Villages of Lady Lake, Florida is running a banner online ad that declares: “GET A FREE GOLF CART. Or make $2,000 doing absolutely nothing!”

Golf Cart Man is referring to his offer in which you can buy the cart for $8,000, get a $5,300 tax credit off your 2009 income tax, lease it back for $100 a month for 27 months, at which point Golf Cart Man will buy back the cart for $2,000. “This means you own a free Golf Cart or made $2,000 cash doing absolutely nothing!!!” You can’t blame a guy for exploiting loopholes that Congress offers.

This is obviously the Obama administration’s attempt to reach across the aisle to the rich country club Republicans.

Pardon us, but this story makes us want to go whack a few balls.

Source: Wall Street Journal

13 unintended consequences of Cash-For-Clunkers

The following list probably doesn’t include all the problems Cash for Clunkers will cause – for the fact is that all the unintended consequences may not be known for years – but it’s a pretty good jumping off point.

cadillac-ranch

There’s one law politicians always choose to ignore. Unfortunately, it’s the immutable Law of Unintended Consequences.

It was sitting out there screaming, “Look at me,” when Congress passed the Cash-for-Clunkers program, but no one in Washington, DC paid any attention to its plaintive wails.

So now we all get to live with the unintended consequences of this unmitigated disaster on wheels.

The following list probably doesn’t include all the problems C4C will cause – for the fact is that all the unintended consequences may not be known for years – but it’s a pretty good jumping off point.

1. You think it’s hard to find a good, honest mechanic now? Fewer clunkers on the road means fewer clunkers being repaired. Repair shops that specialize in older cars will really feel the pinch and many will undoubtedly go out of business.

2. Brother can you spare a muffler? Spare parts will cost more. Cash-for-Clunkers regulations dictate that any spare parts must be scavenged from the clunkers within 180 days. After that, all remaining parts – no matter how valuable – must be shredded. The Law of Supply and Demand dictates that scarcity of spare parts will lead directly to more expensive spare parts. Collision repair shops that depend on buying useable doors, hoods, and other body parts from salvage yards will undoubtedly see price increases.

3. Inflate to $4,500. Older cars will cost more, pricing them beyond the means of the poor who need them most. Since the Cash-for-Clunkers law requires that all trade-ins must be destroyed, the program has taken 690,114 (and counting) vehicles off the used-car market. A contracting supply will lead directly to price the smaller pool of remaining used vehicles. Unfortunately, that means the low-income people most likely to buy clunkers will not be able to afford them.

Continue reading “13 unintended consequences of Cash-For-Clunkers”

Car dealer survey says Cash-for-Clunkers is a lemon

The National Automobile Dealers Association wants the federal government to put Cash-for-Clunkers out of its misery immediately. NADA surveyed nearly 800 dealers and the results may be the Obama administration’s worst nightmare.

Cash-for-Clunkers is leading to piles of problems for car dealers.
Cash-for-Clunkers is leading to piles of problems for car dealers.

The National Automobile Dealers Association, a nationwide trade group, wants the federal government to put Cash-for-Clunkers out of its misery immediately.

NADA surveyed nearly 800 dealers and the results may be the Obama administration’s worst nightmare:

  • 97% of dealers who responded, say the government is not reimbursing fast enough
  • 13% of dealers have dropped out the program because the government is not reimbursing fast enough and overall concern payment problems
  • 87% percent of dealers are concerned the money will be exhausted
  • 3% of CARS program deals have been reimbursed
  • 66% of dealers have not received one payment from the government
  • 25% of dealers are experiencing servere cash flow problems that require short-term loans to fix
  • 11% of submitted applications have been approved (though dealers still are waiting for the money)
  • 16% of submitted applications have been rejected
  • 55% of dealers are not confident they will get reimbursed for every deal
  • 40% do not want the program to continue, even if changes are made to the CARS program

Hell, times are tough. It’s time for the President to improvise. Let’s consolidate two less than successful Obama programs and turn the out-of-business car dealerships into death counseling centers.

Two birds, one stone.

Source: CarDealerReviews.org

Obama can’t close the deal, New York dealers say no more Cash-for-Clunkers

Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government’s Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday.

Want to know how badly things are going for the Obama administration? Thanks to the Cars-for-Clunkers fiasco, people probably trust car dealers more than they trust the government.

Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government’s Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday.

The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They’re also worried about getting repaid.

“(The government) needs to move the system forward and they need to start paying these dealers,” said Mark Schienberg, the group’s president. “This is a cash-dependent business.”

“Well, what’s the big deal,” the President responded. “Why don’t they just print more money like we do.”

Source: Breitbart.com

Democrat calls for “immediate action” to repair the immediate action Democrats took last month

Turns out car dealers can’t pry money out of the federal government to pay for the clunkers they took in trade. So Democrat congressman Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania is demanding “immediate action” from President Obama to correct the problem that Democrats themselves caused by rushing the Cash-for-Clunkers fiasco into law.

Joe Sestak paused while trying to ram ObamaCare through Congress to complain about the last program the Democrats rammed through congress
Joe Sestak paused while trying to ram ObamaCare through Congress to complain about the last program the Democrats rammed through congress

Cash-for-Clunkers is so messed up that even a liberal Democrat is calling it messed up.

Turns out car dealers can’t pry money out of the federal government to pay for the clunkers they took in trade. So Democrat congressman Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania is demanding “immediate action” from President Obama to correct the problem that Democrats themselves caused by rushing the Cash-for-Clunkers fiasco into law.

According to Sestak, only 2% of claims have been paid and 80% of the applications have been “rejected for minor oversight.”

Auto dealers across the fruited plain are pissed that the government’s Cash-for-Clunkers reimbursement payments are taking far longer than had been promised. Sestak says those complaints aren’t isolated incidents.

One billion dollars down. Another two billion to go. Ain’t big government great?

Source: FoxNews.com

Cash-for-Clunker program leads to life of crime

Kissida is hoping a liberal judge will suspend any sentence based on the fact that he may have killed a man, but he helped save the earth.

Timothy Kissida, suspect in a fatal hit-and-run accident
Timothy Kissida, suspect in a fatal hit-and-run accident

Charles Waldrop was peacefully riding his bicycle home from work a few minutes after midnight last Saturday when he was struck and killed by a car driven by Phoenix-area resident Timothy Kissida.

That’s the tragic part of the story, but not the interesting part. Kissida was apprehended later and booked on one count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and another count of tampering with evidence.

Police knew the suspect vehicle was a “silver BMW” because parts of the car were found at the scene of the crime.

Hours after the accident, Kissida drove to a Phoenix-area auto dealership and traded in his 1992 BMW as part of the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

Kissida told the dealer that his car had been damaged when he hit a javelina. (Don’t feel bad. We didn’t know what the hell a javelina was, either. Turns out it’s a wild boar found in semi-desert areas of Mexico and southwestern United States).

The javelina has been cleared of any involvement in the incident
The javelina has been cleared of any involvement in the incident

After receiving an anonymous tip, police swooped in, search warrants in hand, arresting Kissida and seizing his clunker from the dealer.

“I think it shows that people go to drastic means to try to avoid apprehension,” said Phoenix Police Sgt. Tommy Thompson.

Kissida is hoping a liberal judge will suspend any sentence based on the fact that he may have killed a man, but he helped save the earth.

Source: KTAR

“Cash-for-Clunkers…is horseshit beyond repair”

Bruce Luther of Rock & Roll Auto Recycling in Pleasanton, California apparently expressed the opinion of many wrecking yard owners when he said the “The CARS act, as written…is horseshit beyond repair.”

Piles of clunkers do not translate into piles of money
Piles of clunkers do not translate into piles of money

Question: Who would give Cash-for-Clunkers such a harsh assessment? Answer: One of the guys directly impacted by the program.

Bruce Luther of Rock & Roll Auto Recycling in Pleasanton, California apparently expressed the opinion of many wrecking yard owners when he said the “The CARS act, as written…is horseshit beyond repair.”

Why?

Because the Cash-for-Clunkers law requires the car dealer to destroy a clunker’s engine and transmission, which typically accounts for around 60% of a vehicle’s salvage value. Then, after they receive a clunker, salvage yards are given just 180 days to make whatever profit they can from scavenged parts. After that? The law says the vehicles must be destroyed.

Current scrap value is a mere $140 a ton, so the average clunker is worth about $280. But it costs about $200 to “detox” a clunker as federal law requires. That leaves the salvage yard with a net profit of just $80 per car.

Hmmmm. Seems like the thing that should be scrapped is this whole Cash-for-Clunkers fiasco.

Source: Jalopnik.com

Congress wants 8 new private jets, introduces More Debt-for-New Jets program

Those luxurious private jets currently sitting in the Congressional fleet simply aren’t luxurious enough, simply aren’t fast enough, simply aren’t friggin’ imperial enough.

Toilet aboard one of the luxurious new Congressional jets, where "the throne" is actually a throne
Toilet aboard one of the luxurious new Congressional jets, where "the throne" is actually a throne

Those luxurious private jets currently sitting in the Congressional fleet simply aren’t luxurious enough, simply aren’t fast enough, simply aren’t friggin’ imperial enough.

So Congress took a look at its Cash-for-Clunkers program and introduced a related program called More Debt-for-New Jets.

Let’s just compare and contrast the Cash-for-Clunkers congress passed for you and the More Debt-for-New Jets program they passed for itself.

With Cash-for-Clunkers, you have to turn in an older car that gets lower gas mileage. With More Debt-for-New Jets, congress simply adds to the number of luxurious, fuel-sucking private jets in its fleet while giving up nothing.

With Cash-for-Clunkers, the government pays $4500 toward the purchase of your new car but you have to make the monthly payments yourself. With More Debt-for-New Jets, congress laughs at the $80 million price tag on a new jet and sticks you with the monthly payments.
Continue reading “Congress wants 8 new private jets, introduces More Debt-for-New Jets program”

Unsurprising Headline of the Day:
“Most Oppose Cash for Clunkers, but Many Willing to Take the Money if Offered”

Duh. The results of a new Rasmussen poll indicate that human nature is alive and well in regards to the Cash for Clunkers cars.gov program.

cadillac-ranch-cash-for-clunkersDuh. The results of a new Rasmussen poll indicate that human nature is alive and well.

A Rasmussen Reports survey conducted in mid-June showed that 17% of Americans were Very Likely to take advantage of the “Cash for Clunkers” program. Another 18% said they were Somewhat Likely to do so.

Despite the willingness of people to accept the money if it was available, 54% opposed the “Cash for Clunkers” proposal and just 35% were in favor the plan. Twelve percent (12%) were undecided.

In a similar vein, we don’t want to sell IHateTheMedia.com to Google, but if they pony up enough cash, we’ll take it.

Aw, hell, who are we kidding? We’ll swap this sucker for one of those clunkers.

Source: RasmussenReports.com

Cash-for-Clunkers is a poorly-disguised tax on the poor

ABC’s brilliant John Stossel explains that Cash-for-Clunkers will crush poor people along with all those clunkers since it is taking affordable used cars off the road.

Your tax dollars at work: $1,000,000,000 to destroy functioning automobiles
Your tax dollars at work: $1,000,000,000 to destroy functioning automobiles

Lawmakers love laws. They love to write ‘em, love to pass ‘em, love to amend ‘em. But the one law they seem to completely ignore is the Law of Unintended Consequences.

ABC’s brilliant John Stossel explains the unfortunate intersection of Cash-for-Clunkers and the Law of Unintended Consequences:

Another unintended consequence of the Cash for Clunkers program is that poor people who can’t afford new cars – or expensive used cars — will be crushed along with all those clunkers. If you can only afford $500 – $1,000 for a car, you’ll find many of these vehicles are now unavailable. They have been sent to the junk yard thanks to this program.

Nobel Prize for Economics, coming up.

Source: John Stossel

Rookie “Cash-for-Clunkers” Cars.gov technical error saves taxpayers billions

A simple rookie error is causing the government’s cash for clunkers web site to not come up for many, if not most, people.

“Honey, don’t get excited about that new Lexus just yet, the Cars.gov website is still down”
“Honey, don’t get excited about that new Lexus just yet, the Cars.gov website is still down”

We’ve been trying to get on the cars.gov “cash for clunkers” web site for the last few days. But, it just wouldn’t come up for us. Given all the failures of the federal government, both in concept and execution, we figured that they simply over-promised the free money and under-delivered on their web server horsepower.

If you’re thinking to yourself, wait, I’ve been on the the site and it works just fine, well, you are also correct. But that’s only because you keyed in www.cars.gov, not cars.gov. It works the www prefix just fine; but on most browsers, without the www, it doesn’t. Click the links above and try it for yourself. That’s just not how a website is supposed to work. Try our site to see what should happen: if you key in ihatethemedia.com, it moves you over to www.ihatethemedia.com. No server error, right to the home page.

It’s an very simple problem to overcome, one that every rookie website owner runs into, unless it’s automatically taken care of by the web host. What is the fix? Ha! You think we’re going to tell the federal government how to give away more money? If they had their site done right, they might now be requesting $8 billion for this disastrous program, not $4 billion

The federal government: a bunch of rookies, in every way, every day.

Quote of the Day:
“If someone estimates funding of a plan is adequate for 90 days, and the money runs out in a week, how much of the American economy would you trust that person to run?”

If someone estimates funding of a plan is adequate for 90 days, and the money runs out in a week, how much of the American economy would you trust that person to run?

Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Cash-for-Clunkers Comment of the Day

Cash-for-Clunkers Comment of the Day: “Let’s imagine the same program for the housing problem. Destroy all the foreclosed properties and give the former owners a free down payment on a new home.”

“Let’s imagine the same program for the housing problem. Destroy all the foreclosed properties and give the former owners a free down payment on a new home.”

Cash-for-Clunkers: Wrong for so many reasons

Barack Obama learned absolutely nothing from the failed economic policy Soviet Union, because Cash-for-Clunkers clearly demonstrates central planning at its worst.

Cash-for-Clunkers, or as Lenin called it, Наличные-за-старье
Cash-for-Clunkers, or as Lenin called it, Наличные-за-старье

For the moment, let’s just ignore that the Obama brain trust developed a program that was designed to run for three months but ran out of money in four days, and what that might tell us about their ability to forecast anything about the economy or their ability to administer your healthcare.

Seriously. Let’s just put that aside for the moment, because there are lots of other reasons to cringe at Cash-for-Clunkers.

Far as we can tell, Barack Obama learned absolutely nothing from the failed economic policy Soviet Union, because Cash-for-Clunkers clearly demonstrates central planning at its worst.

What the Obama administration saw as a devilishly-clever way to add another $1 billion (now increased to $3 billion) to the automakers bailout will also have the unintended consequence of distorting markets for years to come.

  • By selling cars at artificially-depressed prices, it subsidizes weak dealers who will be able to keep their doors open and compete against stronger dealers.
  • By artificially increasing demand now, it will artificially reduce demand in the future.
  • By artificially reducing the supply of used cars, It will artificially increase the demand for and price of the remaining used cars.
  • By mandating the destruction of used cars, Cash-for-Clunkers will unintentionally distort the market for spare parts and auto repairs.
  • By providing what is, in effect, a $4500 tax cut for those who can afford to purchase a new car during a recession, it punishes those who may need help the most.

Ironic, isn’t it, that the same man who appoints so many czars should make the same mistakes as the Russian communists who replaced the czars.

Source: Examiner.com

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