As Published in
The Kettering-Oakwood Times September 3, 2009
by
Mike Scinto
Depending on the day of the week, and who you’re talking to, the Obama car buy-back either went gangbusters or just plain went bust. And it may still see more daylight. Supposedly it is over but we heard that two-and-a-half billion dollars ago. Nobody knows. It’s been turned on and off more than the dangling light bulb in an outhouse.
The theory was (at least we’re told) to take taxpayer money, buy back gas-guzzlers, destroy them and pay between $3500 and $4500 for each one traded in so the owner can buy a more “planet-friendly” mode of transportation. The reality is, the program managed to make dealers mad, some of whom still haven’t gotten their reimbursement checks after fronting the money when consumers signed on the dotted line, and it cost needy families a potential means of transportation to and from their jobs, or school for their kids.
Look, any time you promise somebody something for nothing, it will appear to be a great deal. There were good reasons for slumping auto sales. First of all, that’s how the market works. There are peaks and valleys in buying trends. This was a valley. Secondly, rather than letting the free market work as it should, the President decided to get into the car business. We bailed out auto-makers (even though they still showed up in bankruptcy court) and Obama’s “car czar”, who had no experience in auto manufacturing, decided to tell his new companies what to make, when to make them and how much to charge. It’s not surprising Americans were avoiding car lots like the plague.
I’m sure I’d like most of you reading this as individuals, if we sat down and had a beer or two, but I’m sorry, I don’t want my hard-earned tax money to be spent buying you a new set of wheels. An artificially altered price may be attractive to you, but somebody has to pay for your pleasure. The old adage your dad or mom used, “you can’t get something for nothing”, is actually quite true.
I mentioned needy families. A decade or so ago we bought a used car. It was one of those literally driven by the proverbial little old lady in a small town to go to and from church. It had low miles, was in really good shape and had a great price tag, since she couldn’t drive any more. It was a spare car we used for emergencies. It would not have met the MPG test today. There was a need expressed in our church for families needing cars. Since we saw that car as a luxury for our family, we donated it to the program. It was just reported that since Cash for Clunkers, tracking indicates donations of vehicles is down about 15%.
The cars, some of which were in fine condition but got under the mandated 18 MPG, were scrapped as part of the program. The deal was that they would never be roadworthy again and dealers had to offer proof of that destruction. Cars that could have benefitted families in need were instead being turned into metal shavings. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the used parts consumers could have purchased to save big money over their new counterparts.
This program was a shining example of why government has no business interfering with the free marketplace. It was underfunded, underestimated, over-promoted and was a management nightmare. They angered providers, participants, potential benefactors of the “clunkers” and taxpayers. Is it surprising those of us with a modicum of sense don’t want THAT government running our health care?
--------------------------------
