Maddow Reports on Bizarro World’s “Cash for Clunkers” « NewsReal Blog

Maddow Reports on Bizarro World’s “Cash for Clunkers” « NewsReal Blog: "America’s economy is thrashing about like a mastodon in a tar pit, and the nation’s leaders are resorting to reading goat entrails in efforts to solve the fiscal crisis. Thus, it’s only natural that the most popular attempt to pump up the economy is a silly, self-defeating program.

So it goes in Bizarro World.

Cash for Clunkers, I admit, sounds good on the surface — it’s designed not only to get gas-guzzlers and polluters off the road but also to boost gimpy auto sales. But you know, of course, that nothing good ever happens when the brain trusts of Detroit and Congress tackle a “solution.”

The worst part of C-for-C is that it ultimately reduces America’s wealth. Forget about the $3 billion going out to buy the clunkers — think of the “clunkers” themselves. From what I’ve seen and heard, a good percentage of the 700,000 or so targeted cars are still serviceable vehicles. Surely a provision should have been crafted to salvage the best ones for public use instead of the junkyard."