Comments on: Quiz for Clunkheads

By: jimdittmer

jimdittmer — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:07:08 +0000

Fun Indeed,can I try…?

By: jimdittmer

jimdittmer — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:07:08 +0000

Fun Indeed,can I try…?

By: Justin Palmer

Justin Palmer — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:19:14 +0000

I am vindicated!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124994366663220...

By: gailleachman

gailleachman — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:22:51 +0000

D. Go to a townhall meeting and ask your elected representative why he voted for the program, and will the plan be made permanent; or would the Bush tax cuts be made permanent instead?

By: mark

mark — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:39:30 +0000

Here is a preview of upcoming subsidies brought to you by the federal government:

Dollars for Dishwashers

Green for Groceries - also known as Dough for Dough

Benjamins for Bicycles - for the environmentalists out there.

Money for Motorcycles - that one is too unsafe. Ralph Nader would have a field day with this one

Cash for Cottages

Notes for nothing

Payments for Primary School - I might be allright with this one.

What rhymes with specie? Could not think of anything.

By: schwabby

schwabby — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:30:28 +0000

I don't think people will really drive twice the miles/year with their new car vs their trade in, so yea there will be savings IMO.

By: The Reticulator

The Reticulator — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:01:20 +0000

Fuel efficient cars save oil and decrease emissions? Are you aware that increased fuel efficiency is not the same as decreased fuel consumption? In fact, increased fuel efficiency can lead to increased fuel consumption, especially with the help of a program like Cash for Clunkers.

By: thenewcocacola

thenewcocacola — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:56:42 +0000

*Absolutely. That's why a libertarian Fed Chairman sold out our country to libertarian bankers.

That seems to be a contradiction of terms. Calling any Fed Chairman a libertarian is like calling any absolute monarch a democratic statesman. The centralized monetary policy attempted by the fed is not a function of a free market. Likewise, the proposed national theft and corruption perpetrated by the banks is not necessarily a product of liberty.

By: schwabby

schwabby — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:59:25 +0000

We need another answer: D) Congress should have allocated 100 Billion in the first place. It would have been really cheap compared to the bonuses we are paying AIG, Goldman, BofA, Wells Fargo, etc, etc. And the money is actually getting spent rather than sitting in a portfolio somewhere.

By: Justin Palmer

Justin Palmer — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:24:45 +0000

Late last night was after they approved the extra $2 billion. So that doesn't mean much of anything. One thing we do know is that thanks to the “most transparent administration ever” the records will probably be sealed for 40 years.

By: johndewey

johndewey — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:50:40 +0000

As I understand it, Justin, the system for registering clunkers was so overwhelmed that even by Monday, many deals from last week had still not been entered. I know that my dealer tried all day long the first day to enter my deal and wasn't successful until late that evening.

By: Justin Palmer

Justin Palmer — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:49:03 +0000

Official Department of Transportation stats as of 4:00 p.m. on Monday, August 3, 2009.

Dealer Registrations:

Number Submitted - 24,238
Number Approved - 20,495

Dealer Transactions:

Number Submitted - 133,767
Dollars Submitted - $563.8 million

Where did the rest of the money go?

By: vikingvista

vikingvista — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:03:07 +0000

If there any left, I'm going to pick up a $500 car from the local used car dealership before I go to lease my new car. The $4500 will pay for a full year of lease payments.

Nice doing business with you taxpayers!

By: aldousd

aldousd — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:49:39 +0000

"self interested" and "Rationally Self-Interested" are two separate things. Rationally self-interested people are not interested in violating the rights of others in their own self interest, because then there is nothing to stop others from doing that to them. Using unearned money extorted (even out-in-public- flag@whitehouse.gov political extortion still counts as extortion) from someone else is not in any rational person's self interest.

By: Don

Don — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:20:44 +0000

The description in the WSJ of what was done to destroy the value of a clunker made me physically ill. Even if the vehicle as a whole may have little real value, the value of each individual part is much greater than the whole. Any the government has assured that all value is destroyed. Amazing.

By: krome

krome — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:26:56 +0000

The manufacturers (pre-bailout) were stupid – to get into the mess they were in to begin with. They should have not let the UAW undermine their business to the point of inviability.

Post-bailout, the manufacturers are now essentially government/union owned and run – so they are now even more stupid than the prior ownership.

By: LowcountryJoe

LowcountryJoe — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:01:09 +0000

“The fed should have never bought this crap in the first place according to some experts.”

I agree. However the pain and chaos would have led to the same dipshits to feel the need to do something, anything to avoid the pain. The pain of course would have been more foreclosures (what percentage, no one knows); insurance-like contracts would have had to be honored or reneged on, which, either way would have put severe strains on the financing companies; and banks would have many foreclosed homes as assets.

One thing is for sure, minus any type of bailouts, the people that walked away from the mortage committments, would have had bad credit and would have found it tough to find a place to rent — much less live — with a glut of homes on the market. But you, muirgeo, would have probably felt sorry for these people and wanted congess to help them out.

By: johndewey

johndewey — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:22:55 +0000

Who was it that the plan purported to help? I thought the major goal was to help the car industry and the minor goal was to reduce the carbon footprint of 250,000 American drivers. Was there anything in the debate of this bill about helping deadbeats?

By: muirgeo

muirgeo — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:58:08 +0000

The fed should have never bought this crap in the first place according to some experts. I really don't claim to know the answer. Some say we would have had a collapse worse then the great depression.

All I know is top bankers are taking home big bonuses again and the fed seems to have played the cards for them over the American people all these years.

I don't claim to have any answers but it is interesting that diverse people like Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders are on the same side of the issue.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:28:55 +0000

Wow, my 1997 4Runner would bring 8k. You really were smart to buy that Ford!