Cash For Clunkers or Repo-City?

This is my baby; how dare the Car-Czar call this a clunker? It's got 169 K miles on it, and it averages 20 mpg and gets 28 on the highway. I fill it up once a month and it has only had one major repair (blown intake manifold gasket). I keep it because I'm a CB. If it got 2 mpg less I could go down to the Hyundai dealer and have it euthanized. Then for only 11K I could get a Hyundai Sonata that would avg. 28 mpg.


Why do I think this is this dumb? We are taking good cars and pouring lapping compound in the engines to destroy the motors. Then the car goes to the crusher where its parts value is destroyed. Then it's off to the scrap yard where it is recycled and the rubber, plastic and steel shipped to China. Now the effect on the environment is about as negligible as an aborted bovine fart. Any fuel cost savings will be eaten up by higher registration taxes and insurance. The poor recession-whipped working class dog now has a car payment. In a few months you will see a lot of small cars for sale in the Penney-Saver; if you're looking for your clunker you may find it has reappeared as a toaster in Wal-Mart.

I'm glad to see our central government is helping to foster restraint and frugality during these tough times. Larry Burkett always said that "the cheapest car you can buy is the one you already own". The auto bubble was fed by easy credit and people loving that new car smell. Today's cars can last at least 200K miles. So what is government doing but promoting consumerism, irresponsibility and a throw away society? Just wait until you see the fraud discovered in this scam. Maybe, if I had an 88 Suburban with 250k miles on it that was rusted away I'd go down and get me a deal on a new "rice-burner". But I would pay cash and not get stuck with interest charges and fees and taxes that eat up the any cash incentive from Obama. I'm not going to have anyone tell me what to do with my Oldsmobile; especially when he's sitting on my lawn, drinking my beer.