Cash for clunker program

So I was driving home yesterday from work and I came across a semi with a flatbed that was carrying about 20 vehicles that had been crushed. You’ve seen them because it’s amazing that cars and trucks can be crushed in the manner that they are. What caught my attention was a spray-painted message written across the body of one them which read “Clunker”. 

I told my wife to take a look and then the discussion began. Actually it was more like ill feelings that I have to deal with. You know that feeling that you get when you’ve been punched in the stomach. The reason I feel this way is because of amount of debt that this program has caused. Think about all the people who owned a clunker to begin with, and then think about them driving new cars. One would ask why they were driving a clunker to begin with. The two answers would be that they enjoyed driving a paid for vehicle or they simply couldn’t afford to upgrade to another vehicle.

See some people actually thought they were getting ahead and still do because of this program. The cash for clunkers program sounds like free money from the government to upgrade from an older vehicle to a new one. First of all nothing is free from the government, the people who pay taxes are the ones who pay for such programs, period.

I was happy to hear about the program running out money, I couldn’t take it anymore. Is the program bad for everyone, no, there were some people that were on the market for a newer vehicle and they were able to upgrade to a better economical vehicle. But the majority of people who took advantage of this program are now carrying the car note that they signed up for and in a few short years we are all going to feel the pain.

What happened to the housing market is going to happen to the automobile industry. People are not going to be able to afford their new cars that they signed for as a part of the clunker program and many are going to get repossessed. But this time it’s going to be worse because people don’t live in their vehicles. So losing their cars to the banking industry is not going to affect them as much as losing their homes did.

Homes are part of the basic necessities in life: food, water and shelter and when one of these is unstable, everyone is affected. Vehicles are a luxury and America signed up for a luxurious program that will turn out to be a huge mistake.