Cash for Clunkers is a Flunker

How many things are actually wrong with this plan?

Let's start by asking if the $4,500.00 must be used to buy an American-made car. If the answer is no, why was that not part of the deal? The taxpayers need to sell their cars too. If that had been a requirement, maybe the 1 billion dollars would have lasted as long as it was supposed to and our government would not be getting bent over for another 2 billion dollars.

Does the government assume that everyone in this country can afford to buy a new car and qualify for a loan for the balance or pay it in cash? Those individuals, my friend, were going to buy a new car soon anyway. My first 10 cars were clunkers. Some of them did not last long but a couple of them turned out to be reliable transportation for very little investment and served me well. Are there no kids left in the country who would love to fix up one of these clunkers? And what about our 10 million unemployed Americans? Don't believe the government's number of 6.5 million, because they don't count people like me who decided to retire rather than find a job that an illegal would not accept. Maybe one of these unemployed Americans will be lucky enough to find work and need a clunker to get there.

Now let's talk about the environment. When you melt hundreds of thousands of cars into metal ingots, I'm thinking this may not be a very "green" process. As a matter of fact, it would be interesting to have a scientific analysis of the environmental impact of this process. How much toxic gas are we pumping into the atmosphere burning all of this old paint, rubber, plastic, etc.?

Last but not least, where are all of these metal ingots going to wind up? China? Japan? South Korea? India? How much metal do we need in the U.S.A. considering that most manufacturing jobs have been exported to other countries? Maybe some day the U.S.A. will decide to again be a world leader in manufacturing and bring those jobs home. In hope of that day, wouldn't it be a "green" idea to have some nice metal ingots stored and ready? It seems like, for now, all we can manufacture these days are apologies.

Remember to tell your legislators to grab a mitt and get in the game.

McWeijun