Coyote Blog

6 Comments

1. Ian Random:

   Nice to see the government has caught up with what a big evil oil company was doing 20 years ago.

   "California. 5 In 1990, the Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) worked with the state's South Coast Air Quality Management District in the Los Angeles metropolitan area to implement the first AVR program, the South Coast Recycled Auto Project (SCRAP). Vehicles older than the 1971 model year and that had been registered for use in the Los Angeles area for at least 6 months were eligible. Unocal purchased each eligible vehicle for $700 from the owner and then crushed the vehicles to recycle the metal. The program scrapped 8,376 vehicles and estimated that it reduced 12.8 million pounds of pollutants (including hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide). 6"

   http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/permalink/meta-crs-287:1

   July 30, 2009, 1:13 am

2. Ben Newell:

   For a quick look at how well "Cash for Clunkers" is working in Vermont, check out this blog post: http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2009/07/a-while-back-congress-came-up-with-a-great-idea-for-simultaneously-giving-the-economy-a-jolt-helping-out-those-car-companie.html

   July 30, 2009, 10:55 am

3. Rick C:

   Amusingly, I heard a member of the texas association of new car dealers, or whatever they're called, on the radio earlier this week, explaining that the $1B in cash for clunkers could have a multiplier effect to the tune of 1% of GDP. The host, who's not a math whiz, estimated that to be $400B. IIRC GDP's about $12T, so he was at least in the same general ballpark. However, normally it takes a Hillary Clinton to get a 100-fold ROI.

   July 30, 2009, 11:15 am

4. JIM COLLINS:

   "MP: If there are 136 pages of mind-numbing government regulations for a $4,500 car rebate, can you imagine how many pages of regulations will be required for a government-managed health care system?"

   How many pages are there already for Medicaid and Medicare? When you throw insurance forms into the mix, it gets even worse. My Doctor's office has three people just to handle this paperwork. Our local hospital has a seperate building to house the people who take care of this paperwork. How much does this add to the costs of healthcare?

   July 31, 2009, 6:13 am

5. JB:

   This is a horrible program, I admit, even though I purchased a new car under it a few days ago (in my case, I was going to buy anyway and my old car was already on life support). It wouldn't be nearly so bad if the old cars were not destroyed:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0IcIxhd8ks

   Bastiat is turning in his grave.

   August 2, 2009, 6:28 pm

6. MJ:

   Bastiat is turning in his grave.

   Government as window-breaker?

   August 3, 2009, 9:55 am