Personally; I believe it has only one positive: stimulating the auto-industry. The negatives are obvious as in; environmental impact. Let's keep it clear and concise.

I'm down for some debating!

my opinion has documented in an earlier posted thread. and there's little point in duplicating that effort.

however, I'll add this. I was listening to Coast to Coast last night, trying to battle insomnia, and the first guest George had on was commenting on the cash4clunkers program. Something that was said really got my attention.

the guest indicated that it was more environmentally friendly to drive the car you have into the ground rather than buying a new car. The reason was that it takes so much energy to manufacture a new car that it outwieghs any "greenhouse" gas emmision savings over the life of the new car over the old car.

Personally, I drive an SUV that has almost 200K miles on it and I don't plan on trading it in any time soon. She's good for at least another 100k as long as I keep oil and gas in it..

so..

that's something that the greenies might find a little disturbing, to find out that the Prius they're driving came at the cost of a greater environmental impact than driving that old volvo that had the really cool skinny puppy and dead kennedys sticker on it into the ground..

It's a false sence of stimulation. Many dealers aren't being subsidized.
The autos could used for recycled parts.
The price of used cars will go up.
The metal will probably be sold to overseas interests.
The Taxpayers are the ones footing the bills and the best deals go to the folks who could afford to finance a vehicle without the taxpayer rebating them.

Plain and simple - it's another giveaway of taxpayer's monies and the problems cropping up daily with reimbursing the dealers proves once again the government can't run anything effectively.

There is a great deal of truth to this. Everything that we make requires energy: creating the resources (like steel, plastic and rubber), transporting those resources to the plants to make the parts, running the factories to assemble the parts, and transporting the completed vehicles.

Most of this energy comes from fossil fuels (primarily coal and oil). Not only does creating new cars use more energy than running the old ones but it causes more pollution. And while a great deal of the old cars will be recycled as scrap that scrap will be sold over seas. One of America's largest export is scrap metal.

Additionally it is aiding one industry at the expense of others: used parts, auto repair (body and mechanical) as well as the used car industry will suffer.

But, when you consider the volume of cars affected by the program I am not sure how much of an impact there will be.

@willing2

My ex girlfriend, her aunt, my best friend's mom, and my neighbors have all bought a new car because of this C4C [cash for clunkers]. There are people going out and buying these new cars but at what cost?

This is where my next comment continues off..

@raiderfan_32

What do you think the auto industries should be investing their research and development in? I think the technology of batteries is way behind our current state of progressions within gadgets using batteries. I think we need more efficient batteries because fossil fuels at their current rate are more lucrative and more efficient at generating energy than the weak batteries put into cars.

@crickstergo

Do you have a solution then?

Yep that just about says it all for me too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cash for Clunkers is better than unemployment. It is a jobs stimulas plain and simple. I think its funny how anything Obama does to improve the economy is critisized the by right wing media complex. Obama is only trying to fix what was broken by 8 years of republican neglect. What realy cracks me up is that the republicans at this point should have no credability at all yet some people still take their talking points seriously.

No solution is needed. The government shouldn't be involved with people buying cars. I wonder if the people applying for the program can actually afford the car payments??? Will there be a lot of repos like the housing foreclosures?

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives.

The Transportation Department said Thursday that the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the program has been "a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work." He said the department was "working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program."

The White House has touted the program's success in providing a targeted boost to the sluggish economy since its inception in late July. Through Thursday, auto dealers have made deals worth $1.9 billion and the incentives have generated more than 457,000 vehicle sales.

But the administration needed to put a halt to the program to avoid surpassing the $3 billion funding level. Consumers were on pace to exhaust the program's coffers in early September and dealers have complained about long delays in getting reimbursed for the car incentives.

John McEleney, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said he remained concerned that so few dealers had been reimbursed for Clunker deals. But he said the Monday deadline should give dealers time to get their paperwork in order.

"I think if we can get a clean cutoff Monday and get everything processed by then, it will have been a pretty darned successful program," he said.

But Mike Mahalak, who runs a Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep dealership in Winter Haven, Fla., said the Monday end date could lead to a similar rush that nearly crippled the federal government's computer systems that were set up to handle claims.

"That Web site will lock up again once everyone is cramming it again on Monday," Mahalak said. The administration has said it expanded the capacity of the computer network in an effort to improve the process for dealers.

The Transportation Department said they have reviewed nearly 40 percent of the transactions and have already paid out $145 million to dealers. Obama officials said there are no plans to seek additional funding.

Applications for rebates will not be accepted after the Monday deadline, administration officials said, and dealers should not make additional sales without receiving all the necessary paperwork from their customers. Dealers will be able to resubmit rejected applications after the deadline.

The Transportation Department cautioned dealers about making sales this weekend, advising them to make sales only when the buyer's paperwork is clearly in order and can be submitted immediately for repayment.

President Barack Obama said in an interview Thursday that the program has been "successful beyond anybody's imagination" but dealers were overwhelmed by the response of consumers. He pledged that dealers "will get their money." The administration has said it has tripled the number of staffers sorting through the dealer paperwork.

Dealers have complained of delays in getting reimbursed and backlogs of vehicle paperwork getting processed in the program. Dealers have said they face a risk of not being reimbursed but LaHood has pledged that dealers will be paid.

"We do not know how many deals are in the pipeline. We don't know how many dollars are left in the program at this very moment," said Ted Smith, president of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association. "That's fundamental to the health of the dealerships that are participating. If you run out of money before you run out of deals, that's not a good situation."

On Thursday, both Chrysler and General Motors said they would begin providing cash advances to dealers to help cover any cash shortfalls related to the program. The automakers said they would provide the advances for up to 30 days to dealers who have already completed a sale and that they will be available as long as the program remains in effect.

The National Automobile Dealers Association said its trade group met with Transportation officials to discuss concerns about reimbursement delays and ways of fixing the problems. NADA spokesman Charles Cyrill said the association "stressed the importance of addressing — as soon as possible — how the program will end, including the possible suspension of the program."

Dealer say the delays have led to a cash crunch. They typically borrow money to put new cars on their lots and must repay those loans within a few days of a sale.

Some dealers are no longer participating in the Clunker program. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members had left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates.

Still, the program provided at least a temporary jolt for automakers.

GM announced plans to rehire more than 1,300 workers and automakers have been paying overtime to boost production. Hyundai recalled 3,000 workers in Alabama.

"At a time of great economic distress, cash for clunkers has stimulated increased production by domestic automakers, putting thousands of idled workers back on the job," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.

The government's online reimbursement system was flooded with requests shortly after the program began in late July, overwhelming the computer system and staff set up to process the deals. That led to big delays for dealers trying to file the paperwork they needed to get paid back for the rebates.

LaHood said some of the submitted paperwork has been incomplete or inaccurate, which contributed to delays. He acknowledged the Transportation Department did not have enough people to process the paperwork but said DOT was ramping up staff.

___

AP Auto Writer Dan Strumpf contributed from New York.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090820/ap_on_bi_ge/us_cash_for_clunkers

has not made a change in my life

at least not yet

Basically just another bailout for the automakers.

People that don't like this administration won't find any thing good in it. Was the same way for every other president. Not sure why we bother.

Are you a true national socialist?

Obama is just building a monument to himself. He and all his Left wing cronies are power hungry selling soldiers in a human grocery store. We practice selective annihilation of mayors and goverment officials for example to create a vacum then we fill that vacum as popular war advances peace is closer.

Steel companies are buying the scrap metal.

It helps communities.

Cash for clunkers was doomed from the getgo.

Ok, here's my understanding:

1. create jobs by allocating $3B for trade-ins.
2. people flock for the money on their $1k heap.
3. the automakers have to recall workers in order to keep up with demand for the 3 months the program lasts.
4. funds run out.
5. dealers, not knowing the funds have yet run out (as paperwork takes some time to go through) keep selling cars and giving the discount, even though they may not get that money back (I'm sure congress will throw a few billion more in order to pay them anyway)
6. the spiked demand is gone, there are now thousands of workers at plants sitting idle and/or inventories are going to overinflate and they will later be let go in order to get rid of the excess.

So, in other words, dealerships make a bit of money from increased sales, workers get jobs for a few months, the administration gets credit for creating those jobs, and in the end, we're back at square one with a little more money in the automakers' pockets and no more employed than we do now. We also lose an estimated 3/4 million used cars, increasing prices on these cars.

Not to mention that the total additional income will not add up to the billions spent in order to make this all happen.

And furthermore, the majority of those trading up are middle class or better, as they are the only ones who can get financed right now.



So the american taxpayer gets the shaft for nothing. again. all in the name of being 'green.'

for three months.

I'll say it again. we need lasting growth and development, not a bunch of really, really expensive bandaids.

and people that love it will never see the faults.

Then there are those of us that realize that they are still politicians just like Cheney and Bush with a different agenda and suck just as much. Besides, it's a lot more fun being in the middle watching the idiocies of both sides.