Cash for Clunkers is ending two months earlier than orginally expected according to newyorktimes.com! That means it was a huge success; if it has run out of money that means GM sold a vast amount of cars that have about a 73% better fuel economy on average that thereby needed MORE WORKERS to manufacture them! President Obama stated that it was far more successful than anyone could have imagined. The only problem I see is the car dealer's $4,500 government rebate and the fact that 60% of the submitted applications have either not been approved or sent back for possible resubmission. But overall, this is a win for GM, the workers and the economy over all!
Ya it was a good idea to encourage replacing polluting cars with new age, low energy consuming technology, while stimulating the economy and the companies that needed it most. What I think would have been better though, is to offer more of a rebate, or focus this plan on domestic brands, we don't need to send money overseas.
What's interesting is that the environmental impact of this program is negligible, and the economic impact has yet to be seen. Sure, auto showrooms were busier for the past month or so, but what if it ends up that the extra people were just going to buy a car anyway in a few months, but now they won't. I think it's going to hard (if not impossible) to assess the effects of the CFC program until several months down the road.
CFC...that's funny because CFC gases are terrible for the atmosphere.
But any-who, when the program ends and people stop buying cars from GM, what will happen to all of those workers they just needed to assemble all those new cars? Seems like a band-aid effect if you ask me.
what will happen to all of those workers they just needed to assemble all those new cars?
Keep in mind that these cars were not newly assembled. And I'm not sure, but I don't think many (if any) of them were manufactured specifically to meet demand of this program. The reason I say that is because they were already on the lots, it's just that the dealers were unable to move their merchandise. This was acting more as a stimulus to the company (and I suppose indirectly its employees) by helping out people who already want to buy a car afford it. Also, they're going to have a similar program with household appliances coming up in a few months. You'll be able to get up to $200 off energy star rated appliances. Of course, you won't have to bring in your old appliances
