Alright, I have lots of issues with this program. I'll try and be brief.
This is not a stimulus. It is merely getting people to buy the car NOW they would've bought in a few months or a year. This is not "rejuvenating" the industry, it is spiking sales which will then slump back to "meh."
Jobs aren't really being created by this as car manufacturers are not going to ramp up production to meet demand as they understand demand is spiking, not actually going up.
This is also a tax on the poor. Sure, 4500 for your junker is nice, but if you have no credit or can still only afford a car that costs 6000, how does this help you? Oh, and it'll drive up the price of used cars and quite possibly the prices on keeping old cars running, especially if they blow an engine. So, the poor are not benefiting from this at all.
Also, the environmental impact is negligible at best. Sure, you're taking fuel inefficient cars off the road. And moving them to junk yards. Yes, many parts of them will be recycled, but there will still be rusting blocks of iron. AND, its replacing them on the road with cars that still pollute.
Yes, they pollute yes, which is good. But, its not like there will be less cars on the road, because THAT is truly a zero emission car. The one that isn't there.
I guess I'm just frustrated by the waste and the bait and switch that seems to be going on.
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"This is not a stimulus. It is merely getting people to buy the car NOW they would've bought in a few months or a year."
That may not be true. An auto industry person interviewed on NPR stated most new cars are purchased by people who buy new cars relatively frequently (every 1-5 years).
This program is bringing in the next group of people: those who buy used cars every few years.
The most reliable customers for the auto industry are still going to be reliable 6 months from now. Their vehicles probably don't qualify anyway.
That being said I'm sure there will be some sales slump once the program ends, but hopefully it will coincide nicely with us climbing out of this recession and sales will climb overall.
"This is also a tax on the poor. Sure, 4500 for your junker is nice, but if you have no credit or can still only afford a car that costs 6000, how does this help you?"
Just because it may not benefit the poorest car buyers doesn't mean its an extra tax on them. Very indirectly perhaps, but the poorest people pay little to no federal taxes anyway. I guess you're right that used cars may go up in price, so that will probably have a negative impact on the poor.
"Also, the environmental impact is negligible at best."
Yeah, I haven't heard anything either way on the subject, but it seems like the environment was just a handy excuse for an otherwise purely economic stimulus package.
"I guess I'm just frustrated by the waste and the bait and switch that seems to be going on."
Waste? Maybe, but even conservatives in government are pretty happy with the economic boost this stimulus is giving. Still seems like a better way of kick-starting an economy than bailing out the rich.
Don't get me wrong. I don't think you're crazy. This sure isn't how I'd kick-start an economy. However, it does appear to be having some positive economic impact (from what I hear, probably too soon to tell though honestly) and may end up being at least slightly environmentally beneficial.
Personally I think they should have put all that money into public transportation and research into how to plan cities that don't force us to use cars. ;-)
You may be right, but I'll let you know this winter and next spring how our sales numbers look.
Especially since they extended it. Now the problem (which we've been having) is a lack of cars to sell. Its a good problem, but still a problem.
The waste is all the perfectly good used engines and things like that. The interesting thing is, a new car puts 1 single big chunk into the economy, and then, until the warranty is up, doesn't add much through service and stuff like that.
Used cars, not under warranty, actually spread the money out more, and put more money in at different places as people get tires put on, etc.
No, its not going to hurt places that service used cars really, but, this is not the "boon" it seems to be.
I'm not complaining about our July. I just wish the government would quit spending money it doesn't have.
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