Cash For Clunkers

[Jim Ferron]

[ QUOTE ]
So far,auto buyers in the U.S. have signed contracts to trade in 358,851 clunkers for new vehicles,stimulated in large part by government rebates of up to $4,500.

AP reports that most of the trade ins have been pickups/SUVs.And what are they driving off the lots in exchange?

1. Toyota Corolla
2. Honda Civic
3. Ford Focus
4. Toyota Camry
5. Toyota Prius
6. Hyundai Elantra
7. Ford Escape (front-wheel-drive)
8. Honda Fit
9. Nissan Versa
10. Honda CR-V (four-wheel-drive)

Interestingly,there are 3 Hondas,3 Toyotas & 2 Fords ,but no General Motors or Chryslers on the list...


[/ QUOTE ]

Don't you remotely think our elected representitives in Government could have forseen all these millions, BILLIONS of out tax dollars going over seas? Don't you think they could have stipulated that at least a percentage of the parts of each automobile be of American origin? Say at least 40%...or say tie the % of the $4500 to % of the car that was of American Heritage?

Example: 50% car Of American Heritage parts or assembly.. buyer gets 50% of the $4500...Plus the money would have gone twice as far stimulating twice as many sales , twice as many consumers.And it would reward buyers who bought 'AMERICAN!'

Would any of that have made any sense? And how long do you think it took an uneducated jerk like me to come up with a common sense idea like that...5 min maybe?

So not only would we be gain some fuel efficiency [who really cares anyway?] we would have at least have been stimulating some AMERICAN jobs!!

[Kim_Howie]

Jim, The morons gave the banking system billions with NO stipulations at all. Please vote them all out.

[427TJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Jim, The morons gave the banking system billions with NO stipulations at all. Please vote them all out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, last September-October President Bush ordered Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke to quickly rush 474 billion to the big banks and Paulson slyly tried to get it no strings attached and no oversight. Yes, we did vote then out. Well, Bernanke is still around.

I heard the GM chairman say today that cash for clunkers was the most successful government stimulus ever.

[Kim_Howie]

Bill,check to see who voted that in.

[427TJ]

Don't worry Kim, everyone is on your side!

[Jim Ferron]

So I'm just in getting my morning coffee at Cumberland Farms, and I see two different guys I know who own mechanic shops talking crying about the economy.

So i go over and start to whine about the 'clunker bill' and they say ... 'what about us? Who do you think have been keeping those 300,000 cars ]clunkers] running? Now they are just gone...crushed...my shop is EMPTY.'

So I think there are a lot of folks hurt by this deal...the trickle down has yet to be felt by many...

[427TJ]

I guess those mechanics weren't doing a very good job if the cars they were maintaining were considered clunkers by their owners!