Thread: cash for clunkers?

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I need to get this off my chest.why are people buying toyotas and hondas and why is are goverment allowing them to buy these cars when the american car industries are goin broke.the goverment has invested alot of our taxpayers money into trying
to bail them out and save american jobs.a guy I work with was complaining about how bad the economy is.I told him when he bought a american car instead of a toyota camery he had a right to complain.otherwise shut up.(just how i feel about it)sorry if I have offended anyone.

I agree with you, they should have had to buy American cars to get the deal.
I mean they are supporting another country's economy, what sence does that make.
Then these Einstein's want sit around complain about how bad they have it.
Makes sence to me!!! Kurt

Just a thought but alot of the japanese stuff is assembled here and has more american parts than some of the american stuff that is made in Canada or Mexico. Not sure who wins here.

There's a lot that can be said that is wrong with this program........starting with taking one person's money and transferring it to another so they can buy something they should be paying for themselves. That being said......

Originally Posted by wrenchinrick

.......why is are goverment allowing them to buy these cars .......

Too many people have forgotten this country was founded by people who wanted freedom from government "allowing" them.

Originally Posted by stovens

Not sure who wins here.

Easy. Like far too many programs enacted the number one purpose is to buy votes...........the "representatives" expect to win. And there are just enough fools who are easily bought that it generally works.

After the clunker is traded in and the engine is destroyed the car is sold for scrap. Who gets the money for the scrap car? The dealer? The government? The customer? Who?

Originally Posted by fitzwilly

After the clunker is traded in and the engine is destroyed the car is sold for scrap. Who gets the money for the scrap car? The dealer? The government? The customer? Who?

With the current price of scrap iron so low, buy the time you haul the "clunker" from the dealer to the crusher, then haul it to the recycler who runs it through the chop machine and loads it on a rail car to be carried off to the smelter (China), there's no money left.... Reason I know this is we checked into hauling them off from a few local dealers.... Oh yeah, and with this governement intervention in market based economics and all the bureaucratic paperwork and time delays to process it, it's a lose-lose deal for everybody.... Well, maybe not for the guy who got $4500.00 for his rusted out hulk of a car/truck he's been keeping around for years..... As Uncle Bob said, as with the majority of government programs, it's just another transparent attempt at buying votes!!!!!

I think Thoreau or Emerson said back in the Revolutionary War times:

"That government is best which governs least..."

Too bad nobody would listen, then or now....

and the scrap will go to China for making the new era green cars----of course they will have huge polution in china around car factories and will then be shipped here which will put the Japanese car companies outta bisness and then we will give them aid so that they won't go nucleat and attack china again as in the 30s and we will have to go help chinese to protect American interests and some hard core will sneak into Korea/Southeast Asia('Nam)----
another round agent peach, health care issues, mental -----

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

and the scrap will go to China for making the new era green cars----of course they will have huge polution in china around car factories and will then be shipped here which will put the Japanese car companies outta bisness and then we will give them aid so that they won't go nucleat and attack china again as in the 30s and we will have to go help chinese to protect American interests and some hard core will sneak into Korea/Southeast Asia('Nam)----
another round agent peach, health care issues, mental -----

So very, very accurate Jerry....Maybe the rebirth of the "Flying Tigers" and we'll side with China again????? Dig out the Hueys and Strech 8's from mothballs, back to the jungle again!!!!!! Sure do hope I remember my way around Saigon and that we can sneak off to Bangkok on weekends again!!!!!

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!!!!!

i bought my new toyota a few months too early or i would have gladly given the dealor my 87 ford truck for the 4500 $ it would have brought instead of the 800 i sold it for .. toyota is running a radio add in my area stating that 75 % of toyota camry is made in america ... more than any " domestic " brand ... ( incidently .. i hate my toyota with a passion .. i`m trading it off soon as i get myself back on track .. it`s been a terrible year ..

I didn't have anything that would qualify for the clunkers program. But last year I did buy my first rice burner, a Honda Element (I call it a rice toaster). I love the hell out of that car for city cruising and it was built at the East Liberty plant in Ohio.

My Dad always says, "I'll never own a Jap car, I remember Pearl Harbor". To which I reply, "Well Dad I think we got'em back for that ..........."

Kitz

I agree Bob. I am not a fan of this program. It targets the wrong point once again. What's the point of taxing us , increasing the deficet and then doing these stupid incentives, which anyone knows will ultimately cost us twice as much down the line in taxes. I figure if we are going to give money away, lets get something in return. Here is an idea. Let's get rid of Welfare. No more free checks. Now lets create the US Urban authority, fund it with welfare savings. Use the cash to create jobs that repair the infa structure of this nation. I don't know about the rest of the US but Ca. has some major roadway improvements needed, Bridge repair, etc. So now that there are all of these people with no free income needing jobs, lets give them some. If your not able to do hard labor, we'll train you to stand or sit in one spot with a slow down sign or stop sign, give you a nice orange uniform, a walkie talkie, and bang your now a traffic director!
Have kids, so you can't work because you need to stay home and watch them, and can't afford daycare, no problemo, you get the new job of day care technician. This job allows you to bring your kids to work! Of course we will need to build day care centers so we will also have to hire more folks for construction. Here's the cool thing. You'll be paying taxes, employed and feeling like a contributing member of society, and get paid for doing something productive. And if your not here legally, we will give you a free pass back home with a do not return without a social card.
Finally if your a CEO who has bilked billions from hard working, tax paying pensioners, you get a new job too, of Sewer and waste water filter technician. Yep. You get to spend the rest of your life cleaning up the $#!*
you created out of other people's lives.

A friend sent this to me yesterday:

Of course we need the federal government involved in the healthcare industry, because they run things like a well oiled machine:

The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 - they've had 234 years to get it right; it is broke, and even though heavily subsidized, it can't compete with private sector FedEx and UPS services.

Social Security was established in 1935 - they've had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - they've had 71 years to get it right; it is broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; it is broke. Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years.

The War on Poverty was started in 1964 - we''ve had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our tax dollars each year is transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - they've had 44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.

AMTRAK was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out as it continues to run at a loss.

"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009 - - after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies, and dealers nationwide are buried under bureaucratic paperwork demanded by a government that is not yet paying them what was promised.

I have been violently opposed to the car company bailout since day one. That said, I was (am) also opposed to cash for clunkers.

First, the bailout didn't accomplish anything. GM and Chrysler still went bankrupt, people dtill lost their jobs, pensions got reduced and you and me, the american taxpayer got a big bill!!

Second, why do we all seem to have our heads collectively up our a--es????

I don't care where the parts come from, when a car is sold, where do the profits go?? If it's not to the US then we're screwed.

Cash for clunkers takes perfectly good cars that are serviceable and somewhat economical and destroys them. The people who need the $$$ most can't afford a new car.

To add insult to injury we (you and I) own 60% of GM and too many of us are going out and buying Japanese, Korean, German, etc cars.

I just bought a new GM car. I want my 60% ownership to be profitable!!

My impression of the Cash for Clunkers is that it attracted two groups of buyers; 1. those who were going to buy a car in the near future and saw an opportunity and 2. those who were enticed into buying a car by the hype. Those who were going to buy a car anyway pulled their purchase up to now instead of waiting a few months. This means that they didnt increase the number of cars sold; they just lumped them into a shorter time period. This is a common US industry happening; yank tommorrow's sales into today. Then, when tomorrow comes, yank some more and hope.

Those who were enticed to buy probably bought over their heads. There is a reason that most drove "clunkers"....that's what they could afford. At some point in time, those folks will have to dump their new car by either letting it get reposessed or by selling it on the used market. This flood will lower the value of used cars because of the increased supply....a loss.

All the government did was to take $3billion from the private auto sector and redistribute it.

This and the auto bail out are great examples of people who think they have the solution screwing up other people's lives. IF McDonalds goes out of business because nobody buying their product, the entire hamburger industry doesnt collapse....people who buy burgers go elsewhere for a better product. The Union guy who sold buns now sells more to Wendy's or Carl Jrs or Burger King. The guy who makes the cardboard boxes still sells the same.....people dont quit buying burgers, they just adjust their choice of suppliers. Same with the auto industry.....there are going to be xx million cars sold next year.
Bailing out GM or Chrysler will not sell more cars...it will only pay your campaign debts to those who supported you.

You got it Robot.

A couple of other thoughts...

The next bailout will be for those who can't afford their car payments
and
I read that because of 'cash for clunkers' GM hired back 1000 workers to build more cars, 1 week before the end of the program... no wonder GM went bankrupt.