Cash for Clunkers

I've haven't been too hard on this cash for clunkers program since it only did a couple billion dollars of damage to Americans which is nothing compared to the trillions of dollars worth of damage Obama, Congress and Bernanke have been doing to the country, but I got fed up with it today.

1. Only the US government would think it's smart to set perfectly fine cars on fire.
2. Only the US government would pay people to set perfectly fine cars on fire.
3. Only the US government would borrow money it doesn't have while the country is drowning in debt to pay people to set perfectly fine cars on fire.
4. Only the US government would put strings on that money to insure that the recipients who set perfectly fine cars on fire have to go deeper into personal debt to receive their handout.

Washington aristocrats make Nero look like a responsible leader by comparison. The Chinese communists are pointing at us and laughing.

Of course this program will only affect the timing of car sales, not the total in the short term. But it will reduce the total sold in the long term because of the destruction of wealth and the perversion of our economy. Any short term gain will be lost in the long term because the market for new cars will be reduced and jobs will have been stolen from productive sectors of the economy.

"Subsidized cars might also cannibalize other retail sales at a time when real personal income continues to fall."

Not "might". It's guaranteed. The tax money and the money spent on the new cars was taken from some more productive use. Government plans to pile another $2 billion in debt on us to fund the destruction of more wealth anyway. Pharaoh Transparency refuses to release data on cash for clunkers.

Cato says Congress is in fantasyland for thinking this bill is good for America. How did Katrina destroying the old houses in New Orleans work out for the people of New Orleans?

Reason suggests the systematic murder of critics of the Kremlin amounts to a reign of terror in Russia but reports the murders seem to be restricted to critics of Chechen policy and may be ordered by the Chechen dictator, not the Kremlin.

Obama's plan to push Americans into college goes further than this. It indoctrinates students into radical leftism, saddles them with debt to the government then offers them the chance to get rid of that debt by joining Americorp. That's the visible hand of Obama guiding lives to his cause and the detriment of all. The article explains how government subsidies creating a bubble in education - driving up the price.

Reason gets it too.

"Here's an idea: Let's give $50,000 to anyone looking to upgrade to a brand-spanking-new, environmentally friendly home. All we ask in return is that you burn your previous residence into a heap of smoldering cinder."

Don't give Congress any ideas. I'm not joking. This may be just around the corner to "jumpstart" the housing market.