Cash for Klunkers

Last month I mentioned on how the Cash for Klunker's plan was a disaster in CA. And I said it would be a disaster on the National level as well.

Well, I am here to eat my words. The program has been so successful, the government has suspended it after 6 days. They have run out of rebate money. From what I understand, if each of the remaining dealers sold 12 new cars under the plan, that would use up the funding.

Back in the happy days, a dealer would sell between 100 to 300 auto's a month. Granted, that was then and this is now.

However, now, many dealers are sitting with trade ins from this new government plan, and have no assurance that they will get their government reimbursement. According to the plan, they are required to blow the engines, and the cars will be scrapped, regardless of their condition. So the dealers are now stuck with vehicles they cannot resell, because the government promised something they could neither deliver or guarantee.

Not to mention how much money the non government companies spent on advertising for this plan.

And, while the deal was supposed to be in effect until the end of August, 6 days in it is over.

If Wal-Mart ran an ad for plasma TV's at $300 for a month, then 6 days in said, never mind, their would be lawsuits galore. When the government does it, there is no recourse.

And these same folks want to run your health care?

The real losers will probably be the dealers. Stuck with inventory they can't sell, having already paid for the new cars that were bought. They are out both the $4,500 and the trade in value. The dealers have gotten the shaft from the beginning of the government auto takeover. And this is just another blow to them, and the folks that work for them.

But hey, that is what you should expect when the government decides to run things. Poorly planned, ill funded, and short sighted, and the heck with what it does to the folks. It sounds nice and makes them look like they care.

I just watched Chris Dodd give a press conference about him being diagnosed with having prostate cancer. And he talked about how lucky he is to have the Congressional Health Insurance. And then used that to push the Government run Health Care system. Are we not lucky that he cares so much about us, that in his hour of need, he just wants us all to be covered.

Unfortunately, under the government plan, which Congress (and Mr Dodd) is exempt from, with his age he would be given pain pills. Not the surgery he has elected to have.

Actually, Ted Kennedy would not be with us anymore either. With his age, under the government plan, a brain tumor operation would not be considered cost effective. He would have been given some pain pills too, until he passed and left the government rolls. I guess that is why Congress exempted themselves from the new plan.

If we rally want to get into details, Social Security was a scam from the beginning. At the time of it's inception, retirement was 65, and the average lifespan was 63 years. They were playing the numbers and gambled most folks would die before they could collect. And so began the biggest Ponzi scheme ever known to man. Then, when they had an excess of funds, congress started using it for their own pet projects.

Now, that the average lifespan is well passed 63, and all the money reserves have been spent on other stuff, we now have a catastrophe. Congress says it is because of the high number of boomers, but in reality, it is because they pissed away the money.

Back to the Klunker plan, 6 days in and already the dealers don't know if they will get paid, and the plan is suspended.

Government as usual.

Yes, I want these pillars of responsibility running my health insurance.