Cash 4 Clunkers
By phildozer
@phildozer (284)
United States
July 31, 2009 4:08pm CST
Perhaps one sign of the stimulus plan taking effect in our economy is the additional 2 billion proposed to be sent to the cash 4 clunkers program, because it has become so popular that some fear the funds will dry up.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090731/ap_on_go_co/us_cash_for_clunkers
3 responses
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
1 Aug 09
Just explain to me how the government spending more money on this is a good thing? Tell me how it's a good thing that people are dumping off their old cars only to go further into debt by buying new cars they don't need. I'm still driving my 10 year old Mazda Protege and I'm not falling for this government crap that will end with me spending the next 4 years owing money on a car I shouldn't have bought in the first place. Especially if that car is coming from GM or Chrysler when they consistently sell cars that make the worst cars list in Consumer Reports.
@phildozer (284)
• United States
1 Aug 09
What you think that americans saved up enough cash to go out and buy a car before the recession? Its not like you save up 20,000 before you go out and buy a camry, thats what they have loans for. Additionally, youre almost certainly going to get less than 4,500 for these cars that theyre trading in, if you tried to sell them on the streets. Thirdly, in my local paper, they interviewed 3 car dealers, who all said that cash for clunkers had almost depleated their inventory of higher mileage cars. And thats in one week. Im still driving my 2000 mitsubishi galant, but that doesnt deny the fact that this means
a. the stimulus plan is indeed effecting the economy positively
and
b. americans have been aching to go out and buy new cars, and now the time is right.
believe it or not, banks do check out your finances before you can get a loan to buy a car, so hopefully theyve learned their lesson on giving out those risky loans.
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
1 Aug 09
You don't get it man. People need to learn NOT to buy new cars all the time. People need to learn how to make things last. This encourages the kind of fiscal irresponsibility that got us where we are in the first place. People buying homes and cars they couldn't afford is what killed these banks.
What happens when these people lose their jobs and can't make their payments? Who do you think is left holding the bag? Normally it would be the banks, instead, it's US the taxpayers. WE are the ones buying their "clunkers", WE are the ones that bailed these companies out, and WE are the ones who lose when these people stop making payments.
"believe it or not, banks do check out your finances before you can get a loan to buy a car"
There's that naive optimism again. Trust me dude, ANYONE can buy a car. They'll let you buy the car even if you don't have a down payment on hand. Sure, they check your credit rating, but that's not even relevant anymore. The government is telling them to sell to anyone and that's exactly what they're doing. I could buy a $200,000 home right now with a smaller down payment than I made on my car in 1999. With cars, down payments are entirely optional now since we're footing the bill. All the dealership cares about is getting cars off the lot and taking the check from us taxpayers.
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
1 Aug 09
Ah, to be 19 again and think I can solve the world's problem with my knowledge. I knew all the answers!
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
1 Aug 09
So they spend one billion dollars then what? So they add another two billion dollars then what?
What I am getting at soon the program will just simply run out of money, once again and you are back at square one. All they are selling is cars that were already manufactured. With this spending nothing new is being produced. Because of this every year we are going to have to go through this whole thing all falls apart. The first year this program ceases the whole house of cards comes crashing down. Why, because what is being produced today will not be on a dealers lot to sell until after the CFC program. All was accomplished was to clear inventory, almost like a clearance sell. With so many buying this month who will buy next month, or the month after that. So cars once again stack up, and will be in need of another CFC program. Where does it end?
@phildozer (284)
• United States
1 Aug 09
This isnt some endless circle, this is basic supply and demand that you can find in any highschool economic textbook. as price goes down, demand goes up. That simple. the government has provided a way to lower the price without costing dealers or manufacturers anything, and the demand has increased as a result. Secondly, I hope to god that cars wont stack up again, because If I can understand the fact that cars are being sold because of this temporary government program, surely their multi-millionaire economists can figure it out.
@Troublegum (641)
• United States
31 Jul 09
It is amazing to me that backrupting a program "far sooner than expected" can be billed as a "Success"
Hopefully they won't spend too much money on buying up all the old cars and destroying them because there are those of us who can't afford to buy new cars, and for us it is more economical to buy a $800-$1000 car every few years than a $15000 every 10 years. Taking the old cars out of the system will hurt us, as well as autobody shops and used car dealers and scrap yards.
So basically the government is using my tax dollars to make it harder for me to get an affordable car. Great thinking.
