A clunker of a deal

After I wrote about the possible loss of jobs in the local auto industry on Wednesday, I wanted to bring up a bill which passed the House on Tuesday which sounds innocent enough but to me sets a dangerous precedent and insults my intelligence on several levels.

Its formal name is the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act but H.R. 2751 is better known as the "Cash for Clunkers Act". According to this story from The Hill by Jim Snyder and Silla Brush, the bill would allow consumers to collect on a voucher up to $4500 if they trade in a "gas guzzling" car for one which gets more mileage per gallon. Obviously the concept was enticing enough to get both our local Congressmen to vote in its favor.

I'm sure many will ask what is wrong with this concept. However, we see just how the government is handling its running of the American auto industry and how they're attempting to take away choice from the consumer by adopting stricter CAFE gas mileage standards. Moreover, I'm very leery of regulating behavior on the public dime, since the estimated tab for the program ranges up to $4 billion. To me it's much like adding a particular tax break for doing whatever action the government wishes one to do.

At the moment the voucher goes toward buying a vehicle which gets as little as 4 more miles per gallon. But as the Hill story notes, the manner of payoff is still negotiable and may be set up to eliminate any chance that a car fitting the classic definition of a "gas guzzler" (e.g. sport-utility vehicle, light-duty truck) qualifies for the taxpayer-funded subsidy.

In an era where we've proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that throwing taxpayer money at a problem can make it far worse than it was when it started, this program once again promises to be a never-ending boondoggle that will only siphon money from taxpayers and line the pockets of some large entity. It's yet another case where a Congress which should have known better to mess with the free market is listening to the wrong set of people with the wrong set of priorities.