The End of Another Government Program
Posted On Monday, September 7, 2009 at at 5:10 PM by Finance FanaticThe government launched the recent program called "Cash for Clunkers", which gave consumers the opportunity to turn in their old "clunker" for up to $4500 credit towards the purchase of a new car. The program was such a hit that the initial funds were all used up within weeks of its initial launch and required Congress to vote and allocate more funds to the program.
After about a month of the popular program the new funds were completely depleted. So far, just a few hundred thousand cars sold is all we've seen from the program and unfortunately, in the end, it probably put several already struggling consumers, further into debt.
The government will need to be very active to help LEAD the economy out of this recession, but it needs to do just that, lead it. I believe they should focus more on getting more money into the consumer's hands and focus on how to reduce small business expenses to help encourage increase in the circulation of money. However, as a result, you can believe that 2010 Chevrolet Camaro and Porsche have benefited from the government program. Overall, we may have seen another several hundred billion down the drain. Check out the GMC Terrain Review and the 2010 Mercedes Benz GLK Review, as the cars look to be getting better going into the future.
Cash-for-Clunkers Gets More Cash
Posted On Friday, July 31, 2009 at at 11:49 AM by Finance FanaticToday The House quickly approved a bill to generate $2 billion more of funding for the very popular government program, "cash-for-clunkers", which is a recently passed program that can get consumers up to $4500 worth of credit towards a new car when turning in an old "clunker." Today, many government officials boasted at the plan's huge success and that indeed the quick depletion of the originally allocated funds shows just how good of a plan it was. I have a serious bone to pick with this plan and here's why:
More Market Fabrication. This is just yet another fabricated, government induced program to skew numbers and transactions during this economic downturn and, once again, by having you and I pay for it. Of course, as a result, car sales will surely see a jump in sales in the coming months as who wouldn't want to trade in that old broken down car for free money? In the end, it is not helping to stimulate the actual economy and help increase the money flow and supply to the consumer. Once again, it is just another way for the government to write a check to companies to bail them out, oh, and give you and I the bill. So, for those that are using this program and are thinking they're getting a "deal", we will see how much money you're saving when your tax rate gets raised an extra 15%, that is if you pay taxes.
Get up to 1500.00 TODAY !!
Encourages More Debt and Wasteful Spending. In tough economic times, it wise to use your funds wisely. Anyone who has purchased a car knows that the second you drive off with it, you've lost money in it. In most cases, cars are income eating assets. Sure, participants in this program will save a few thousand on a car, but will still have to cough up a few more to buy a new one. I am sure most of this gap is being put on credit cards, which in the end, will keep pushing those credit defaults up and up. At this time during this economic crisis, we should be promoting more worthwhile spending habits than upgrading your automobile.
As much as I don't agree with the program, it will go forward. As a result, I expect to see some inflated numbers in car sales reports, so going long on the autos may not be a bad choice at this point, at least for the short term. Unfortunately, as is the case for most of these programs, it is unsustainable and, in my opinion, will not get our economy back to a self sufficient state. In fact, it is only making matters worse, and deepening the debt.