Garden State Patriot

You may recall back in June, I wrote two posts on the silly ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program spurred on by Congressman Rothman. In my initial post I questioned just how the program would be paid for – and in my second post the Heritage Foundation affirmed my concern, indicating that only $1B of the necessary $4B needed for the program was set aside.

Well, apparently Heritage’s prediction has become reality. According to the AP, the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program is being forced to a grinding halt because of a lack of funds.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Congressional officials say the government plans to suspend the popular “cash for clunkers” program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases. The Transportation Department called congressional offices late Thursday to alert them to the decision to halt the program, which offered owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns of large backlogs in the system, prompting the suspension. 

Further Entangles Government in Market: The program has already spent $150 million and has another $800 million to $850 million in obligations. What that means is that the nation’s auto dealers have already paid car buyers almost a billion dollars but are still waiting for their cash from the federal government. The USA Today reports: “Carmakers and dealers have booked expensive advertising to capitalize on buyers’ interest in CARS, and now will be left promoting a tie-in with a discontinued government program — one that wasn’t supposed to end until Nov. 1. “Disappointed,” said Chrysler spokesman Scott Brown. “It’s too late to recall the ads,” says Beau Boeckmann of Galpin Ford, the nation’s largest Ford dealer, in Los Angeles. “We had increased our ad budget to get the word out. We are very heavy on radio, newspaper and getting direct mail together,” Boeckmann says. “Now what do you tell people when they walk in” for a clunker deal? “It’s tough.”

Honestly, this is just comical. All these auto dealers thought they had a great thing going, spent money to advertise and now the program has been halted (in fact, I just heard an ad on the radio a minute ago). On top of that they don’t yet have the money from the government to pay people their “Cash for Clunkers” refunds.

And these are the people who we should empower to run our healthcare? Egads!