Cash For Clunkers has been popular across Europe. Its now time for Congress to offer the same program to the American driver.
Prior to the first government bail out of General Motors and Chrysler,
I would have turned down any plan to encourage consumers to buy new cars which would involve trading in their older, more polluting vehicles. Government intervention of any sort was anathema to me – after all, if they can’t survive on their own, then let them die.
But, the horse has left the barn as the federal government has allocated billions in taxpayer dollars to prop up the automakers, making the issue of further support moot.
What I would like to see is the consumer getting some help in the form of a “cash for clunkers” program whereby the federal government helps to buy up older vehicles, scraps them and gives consumers a credit.Not some token amount either, rather $5000 would be nice amount regardless of the condition of their vehicle.
Similar programs have been rolled out in Europe, successfully drawing customers to new car showrooms to buy a car and trade in their old one. In Germany, for example, owners of old care have been trading them, stimulating the economy and helping revive the industry there.In effect, the German program has:
Increased auto sales by lowering the price for new cars, particularly entry level models that many consumers want.
Older, polluting cars are taken off the road and scrapped. This means that the older polluting model has been replaced by one that is not only more fuel efficient but contributing fewer emissions to the environment.
Helped to stimulate the economy as each sale has brought in tax money,kept people employed and spread to other sectors as money begins to flow elsewhere.
For “Cash for Clunkers” to work, the program would have to be written up and approved by Congress, then signed by the president. Barack Obama has said that he would sign such legislation if presented to him.
Details of the program would depend on what is presented, but choosing an amount smaller than $5000 would mean that fewer customers would participate. Why not come up with an aggressive program that would encourage three million new car sales before the end of the year at a total cost of $15 billion? That sounds like a lot of money and it is,but it is far less than what AIG is getting.
Cash for Clunkers is an idea whose time has certainly arrived.
