Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
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White House staff and congressional lawmakers are meeting today to try to find a way to keep the U.S. government’s “cash for clunkers” program running, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
The popular program remains in operation, Gibbs said.
“If you were planning on going to buy a car this weekend, using this program, this program continues to run,” Gibbs said at a morning White House briefing. “If you meet the requirements of the program, the certificates will be honored.”
Gibbs said the Obama administration and congressional leaders are working today “to find and develop ways to continue to fund” this $1 billion program, which may be out of cash after a week of operation.
The incentive program, formally known as the Car Allowance Rebate System, provides credits of as much as $4,500 to new-auto buyers who turn in an older vehicle to be scrapped. Lawmakers had expected the $1 billion program to generate about 250,000 sales and to have enough money to last until about Nov. 1.
Har!
#1 – mileage isn’t even something that should be on the sticker – it’s totally irrelevant to the vehicle you buy. You buy what serves your needs, which is why “more efficient” is fine if it meets two requirements A) NOT smaller/less powerful, B)NOT more expensive.
Americans are not like the rest of the world, we live real lives and need real vehicles.
I’ve never seen a more unAmerican group that the current Democratic party.
As with most government programs, the success of the “cash for clunkers” program is not measured in how well the consequences of the program align with the stated goals of its advocates. Nor is it measured by any economic impacts the consequences might cause. Instead, just like the example of the public library in George Dance’s recent article about Booze and books, the success is measured by participation or usage, not by any measure of the value provides or harm it does to our economy. The trick is to define the program specifically so that it has a known demand so the usage is high. Media spin and politics will make sure the right people hear the program was successful and beneficial. I heard a bit on NPR just today about the downstream benefits that recycling all these old cars has. Ridiculous of course, but the perception amongst the voters is far more important than the actual results and consequences. Certainly there will be follow-on programs, cash for major appliances, cash for tools, etc.