Have you heard of the new “cash for clunkers” program just passed by Congress?
When I think of a clunker, my first mental image is of an old jalopy with square wheels and tires. That’s not the same kind of clunker that Congress envisioned when it passed this bill by a narrow margin. While this bill, as part of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, was labeled as Green, there is controversy as to whether that label has substance.
In a nutshell, the program works like this: If you have owned a 2001 or older model car for at least a year and it gets 18 miles per gallon or worse, your car qualifies for the program. If you trade in your “clunker and buy an American-made vehicle that gets 4 mpg better than the one you owned, you would get $3,500 off the sales price. If you trade up for a new model that gets 10 mpg or better than your clunker, you would get $4,500 off the purchase price. The point is to get fuel-inefficient cars off the highways while supporting the American car industry. If all goes well, it could become effective this week.
Sounds pretty good, huh. So, what’s the point of contention? There are several, which include that the bill added $1 billion to the national debt, which is already over $11 trillion. According to Alex Pasternack of the Web site Treehugger, “The Heritage Foundation claims that the bill would destroy over a million net jobs, impose over $1,500 in energy costs on families, and slash GDP by $9.6 trillion by 2030.”
Second, opponents argue that many older vehicles are still efficient and meet carbon-emission standards. This type of program may entice people to buy a new car they really cannot afford, incurring large monthly payments and further hurting the economy.
Third, many argue that for the government to pay dealers up to $4,500 per car for only a 4- to 10-mpg improvement is not good enough to make an impact on the country’s carbon emissions.
Also, historic and antique car collectors voiced concerns that such a program would make older car parts nearly impossible to find and very expensive.
Obviously, there are real clunkers that need to come off our roadways (although, I don’t think they have four square wheels!). We could use an old adage, “Consumer beware” – what looks Green may actually put you in the red. Hopefully, this new legislation will do all the things it was outlined to do without all of the negatives. After all, it seems that’s all ‘we the people’ have anymore – hope.
