patrick.net

Fuck cash for clunkers.

It's now time for cash for DUMPS!

I don't mean to highjack, I have nothing to contribute vis the Keynes angles.

But I know about the unintended consequences of these arrogant megalomaniacs actions in the back street, the one over behind Main Street.
One man's Auto Industry Stimulus is another man's only viable option for transportation.
This crooked giveaway to the corporate elite decimated the used car market in America and hugely impacted the supply of used auto parts. (destroyed "clunkers" were not allowed to be parts salvaged. Why?)
With their disregard for anyone who might have to shop for, and drive, a used car, our elected leaders once again prove who their real constituency is.

Robert Sproul says

decimated the used car market in America and hugely impacted the supply of used auto parts. (destroyed "clunkers" were not allowed to be parts salvaged. Why?)

Wouldn't not allowing those parts to be salvaged force more parts to be made and sold, shipped, etc? That would be the stimulus you'd think we all would need, despite that damage to the used car supplies.

In any case, used car shoppers could still buy used cars from private sellers. And not every trade-in was a C4C transaction. I believe you, but I guess we'd need to see how many were actually impacted versus the whole used car market, right?

RE: Keynes. I think, just as you could argue that interest rates hurt savers and the elderly, at that point stimulating consumption, particularly manufacturing, seems like it would pay dividends, even if the car market was neutral at best.

CL says

Wouldn't not allowing those parts to be salvaged force more parts to be made and sold, shipped, etc? That would be the stimulus you'd think we all would need, despite that damage to the used car supplies.

Not everybody needs "stimulus" some people, poor people, need used car parts to keep their hoopties running.
CL says

In any case, used car shoppers could still buy used cars from private sellers.

C4C took almost 700,000 cars out of the used car supply, making good used cars more expensive. Hurting poor people.
CL says

interest rates hurt savers and the elderly, at that point stimulating consumption, particularly manufacturing, seems like it would pay dividends,

Yup, financial repression hurts savers and the elderly, driving some into poverty. Stimulating consumption does not make that up to them. They stay screwed.
The pattern is; take from the poor and give to the rich.
The Wizard of Oz, educated-past-their-intelligence, self-dealing elites making these decisions don't care, and don't have to care, about the poor or the elderly.
You play into their hand when you try to parse their decisions based on correct or not correct, smart or not smart. They are uncaring, they are unjust, they are corrupt, who cares if they are smart.

But underconsumption DOES hurt them. Even the poor get affected by the complete collapse of the system. I understand your point, but if you look at how devastating the collapse was, its effect on charities even, or the wealth effect and its impact on personal charity, then can you say that? Like it or not, the symptom and the cause of the post-collapse period was aggregate demand, right? Factories need to build and employ, lest the employees become the next poor as well. We needed to restore confidence enough to get citizens buying things again.

It's just a symptom of how terribly they fucked up, and how dependent we are on consumerism. Conversely, the poor could maintain their jalopies but that seems like a recipe for stasis at a time when stasis would have been terrible.

Robert Sproul says

(destroyed "clunkers" were not allowed to be parts salvaged. Why?)

Because the point of destroying the clunkers was to remove older fuel inefficient vehicles from the roads forever. Allowing those parts to be used to repair other fuel inefficient vehicles defeated the purpose of the program.

Or so I was told when I called.