theaveragejoe.us

Now, who came up with this brilliant idea? Was it the Auto Industry that we just bailed out; the rich Environmentalists who wanted to get unsightly older cars off the roads; or was it those Financing Companies that thought that it was a way to make a quick buck, similar to what those mortgage lenders were thinking as they pushed for everybody to buy a house? It was probably this entire group of special interests and then some, who had an easy sell to those in the Obama Administration and Congress. since with everything else bad that’s happening, they could make it appear to be a way to help those back home and somehow stimulate the economy.

How do we fall for this stuff? You would think we would have learned our lesson watching our economy almost go into total collapse because of such thinking just a few years ago. Now we have people being told that they are driving “clunkers.” Chances are, these folks are just Average Joes and Janes out there barely paying their bills, with doom and gloom facing them in the future because of all this government spending. So now they have an opportunity to get about $3000 for the car that was sufficient to get them back and forth to work everyday, if they buy a much more expensive car that will put them further into debt.

These are the same folks that were mindful of the cost of gas and were limiting their driving and being careful about their gas mileage. Now they can pay more money to financing companies, licensing fees, and taxes taking more of their disposable income out of the economy, while probably buying a foreign car. Will they have more difficulty paying their mortgages and buying other merchandise that could maybe provide growth for their communities, since a good portion of their earnings heads to these auto financing companies every month? Isn’t that what happened when the Government the encouraged people to buy homes who couldn’t afford those payments? Of course, this is obviously even more foolhardy, since we know that a car will depreciate and not even have the chance that it will be worth more than when it was purchased. The day they drive that new car off the lot they will be in the same negative equity position they were in with their homes. And, since depreciation occurs at a faster pace than the amortization of their loans, chances are they won’t have any equity in that vehicle until almost the time their loan is paid off, which usually coincides with the warranty running out and things start breaking down in the car. It’s called planned obsolescence. Here we go again. But, now we have the government directly involved with OUR money. Why not just give everyone free tune-up?

And who is monitoring this great “American Car Giveaway,” to make sure that it is not just another scheme for some to get rich at the expense of the average many? Surely there is someone making sure that the rates charged to these overly excited car buyers are fair and reasonable and that the car prices being charged have not been inflated to reflect the clunker contribution. After all, it is the Government paying for this operation with our money. Is anyone observing to make sure that these cars are not worth more than the money they are being allowed as a down payment for the purchase of a more expensive car? What about all those parts in those cars such as airbags, stereo systems, tires, seats, doors, air conditioners, windshields, and the myriad of other valuable parts that make up a car? Are all those things also being junked, or are they being taken out before the engine is frozen and sent off to clunker heaven? It would be a shame if all those things were wasted, but it would be a bigger shame if those unsuspecting traders were not given the full value for their “clunker,” while someone else made a profit on their parts.

There has to be someone in our Government that says “enough is enough.” Let’s stop with the schemes and scams that just deflect the root cause of our problems—overspending by the Government. Once again we have selective spending of our money to bail out another segment of big business while the Average Joe and Jane are saddled with an uncertain future. And, chances are, when it comes time to pay for this enormous debt we are accumulating, all that will be left to a future generation to pay the bill, will be what then will be called a “clunker” with a lot of depreciation, wear and tear, and maybe even a balance still owed. I wonder what they’ll get for it on a trade.