Grossly mismanaged and 2 billion over budget, the results of the Cash for Clunkers has been released by the Dept of Transportation. The top 10 new vehicles purchased:
1. Toyota Corolla
2. Honda Civic
3. Toyota Camry
4. Ford Focus FWD
5. Hyundai Elantra
6. Nissan Versa
7. Toyota Prius
8. Honda Accord
9. Honda Fit
10. Ford Escape FWD
Note: Government Motors (GM) did not make the cut. We spent billions to bail out the company and we can’t pay people to buy the car? This is the same government asking Americans to trust them with their health care.
AOL Auto notes that in the same period charities that provide a tax rebate for used cars saw a dramatic decrease in donated cars. This downturn made it more difficult for families that could have benefited from an inexpensive car.
Edmunds says the cost of the marginal purchase if over $20,000. So it cost us 3 bill to move sales forward six months or less. And other purchases were lost so the net was zero
except the govt does not work for free.
Best economic example – we used a bucket with holes in it to move water from the deep end to the shallow end, while losing some on the pool deck. net GDP was minus.
Or look at the economic example of breaking windows.
congress and house insanity
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Oh my gosh. The government screwed up. Who could’ve guessed?
I saw different stats. The government treats a Ford F-150 2X4 and the 4X4 as two different vehicles if the 4X4 has two different engines then the government splits it up again. The Japanese win because they had fewer choices and therefore a better chance at winning the top spot with the government numbers. If the F-150 and the other vehicles were treated as one vehicle no matter the style, the ranking comes out different.
In all vehicles purchased from the clunker program:
1.Toyota: 18.9 per cent
2.GM: 18.7 per cent
3.Ford: 15.4 per cent
4.Honda: 12.9 per cent
5.Chrysler: 9.1 per cent
–The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration