Cash for Clunkers

I think it is mainly the new car owners. I would not want a new car payment though. I know it helps the economy but still. I do not really see what it helped other than the environment.

I wonder if they couldn't brainstorm and think of some other way to make money off of the old cars. I know certain parts of the cars are worth more than others; like catalytic converters (I think they're called) I know you can at least get $100-$200 per set. So, I'm wondering if they're just totally junking the car (into "scrap" material), or if they've considered taking the car apart and perhaps selling the parts that still work, and having the more 'rewarding' parts of the car (like the catalytic converters) scrapped. If that makes any sense. I have a feeling that they could make it work if they really wanted to.

The government wins! They've convinced the public that they are "stimulating" the economy and increasing sales while the hidden facts is that this actually hurt many people as it happened and in the long term. Those used cars would normally provide fairly affordable transportation to those who can't afford new car payments and now those people have been screwed. It has actually hurt more than it helped. But the gov't got great publicity and many people thought that it was a good thing because they don't look at the facts.