Cash for Clunkers engine destruction procedure

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Just watch the whole thing, and remember while you watch that your tax dollars are paying for the car to be destroyed. And replaced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waj2KrKY ... r_embedded

From http://jalopnik.com/5327580/video-how-t ... unkers-car

Mike <-- goes to read the Constitution to find the place where it says the Federal government has the authority to trash perfectly good cars at taxpayer expense.

Yes I'm livid about the way we are throwing away money and the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle all in one fell $4 billion dollar swoop....

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:22 am

I'd also be livid if my Volvo had such horrible resale value!

My similar vintage Celica which was $23K new is worth more than that Volvo.

Regardless, that Volvo could be re-sold *or* given to a charity/someone that drives a true clunker (made before 1985) and we'd be much better off.

Scott

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:53 am

WTF.

Remind me when crotch punch congress day is.

I did not realize this is what they were doing with the cars. It makes 0 sense.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:55 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

Mike <-- goes to read the Constitution to find the place where it says the Federal government has the authority to trash perfectly good cars at taxpayer expense.

Interesting. I had thought this was a voluntary trade in program. When are the black helicopters and SWAT team going to show up and take my cars away from me?

William Gravely · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:18 am

I really wanted to cry and I could only watch about 10 seconds.

Also riddle me how that new volvo qualified but my car (which I think we all know is definitely a POS) does not qualify for the program? Not that I would trade it it now knowing what they do to it.

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:23 am

Thats truely the dumbest thing I've ever seen, If the congress is so concerned over the economy and the enviorment why wasn't this program only for American manufactured economy vehicles? I also don't have a perception of volvo's as being gas gusslers. According to the news Toyota and Honda gained the most of the 4 billion dollar allotment. Does this make sense to anyone other than the congress???

Keith Vail · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:46 am

Crown Honda of Southpoint called my dad up the other day at the Advance Auto store he works in to see if they carried 5 gallon buckets of Sodium Silicate so they could disable the cars that were brought in for Cash for Clunkers.

RobLupella · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:07 am

Better use Castrol. :lol:

Spend the cash on a Honda built in Ohio or a Ford built in Mexico?? or a Chevy built in Japan/Korea/China. Open question as to which stimulates more American companies/workers...

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:42 pm

Politics aside, this really makes me sick to my stomach.

What a waste!!!!

I sure as hell wouldn't consider that Volvo a 'clunker' by any stretch of the imagination.

This really sounds like a futile way to save Detroit that misappropriated funds. :cry:

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_window_fallacy

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:13 pm

I like how it was an "emergency" that the initial $2B was about to run out in this program so they had to jump on adding another $2B or risk the program being ended. *sigh*

I'm with you guys, this is an incredible waste of money. Why aren't there more road crews out just improving roads? Just spend money to create jobs to do something WE ALL NEED AND USE. Nah, that would make too much sense.

--Donnie

Chuck Frank · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 3:13 pm

Not only is it a waste of what may have been a perfectly good engine that could have been used to repair a much worse performing vehicle, but a waste of time for a lot of mechanics (wait news flash: employment for mechanics experienced in destroying. an engine jumps up astronomically in July! Job stimulus plan working!)

And now the government has taught mouthbreathers, PO ex-wives, and jilted GFs the PROPER way to destroy an engine and made it much easier and cheaper to purchase what's necessary (nother news flash: Sales of bags of sugar nosedives! Grocery stores start offering specials on sodium silicate, BOGOF). :shock:

steve remchak · **Posted:** Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:20 pm

Jason Tower wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_window_fallacy

obviously the shopkeeper didn't know Cline. :lol:

this kinda blows my mind too, liberal as i may be.

beyond the destruction of vehicles i wonder about those taking these rebates. more specifically, when i drove a clunker i couldn't afford car payments. who pays when these loans are defaulted on and the cars are repo'd?

oh yeah, the broken window fallacy again. ........ CarMax sees an up-tick in inventory.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

I was reading the wikipedia entry on US Federal Tax to try to put a scale on things. As of 2007 there were 138 million taxpayers in the US. 80% of the federal tax burden is paid by the top 20% of earners (families making more than $80k or so per year). So there's about a 4:1 burden for middle class and higher, which I will assume most (not all) people on this board are.

So ... ($4b / 138M) * 5 ~ $150

What would you rather have spent your $150+ on rather than destroying running cars?

I think I would have rather had $150 in gummy bears, or maybe those mini-brownies from Target. Oh wait, no one asked me. But those brownies are damn yummy.

William Gravely · **Posted:** Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:39 am

I would have paid $150 to destroy Rob's miata. But only if we both got to watch.

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Cash for Clunkers engine destruction procedure

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