From a Wall Street Journal op-ed:Americans are streaming back into auto showrooms, and one reason is the "cash for clunkers" subsidy. Democrats are naturally claiming this is a great success, while Republicans are claiming that because the program has run out of clunker cash so quickly, this proves government can't run the health-care system. How do we elect these people? What the clunker policy really proves is that Americans aren't stupid and will let some other taxpayer buy them a free lunch if given the chance.
The buying spree is good for the car companies, if only for the short term and for certain car models. It's good, too, for folks who've been sitting on an older car or truck but weren’t sure they had the cash to trade it in for something new. Now they get a taxpayer subsidy of up to $4,500, which on some models can be 25% of the purchase price. It’s hardly surprising that Peter is willing to use a donation from his neighbor Paul, midwifed by Uncle Sugar, to class up his driveway.
On the other hand, this is crackpot economics. The subsidy won't add to net national wealth, since it merely transfers money to one taxpayer's pocket from someone else's, and merely pays that taxpayer to destroy a perfectly serviceable asset in return for something he might have bought anyway. By this logic, everyone should burn the sofa and dining room set and refurnish the homestead every couple of years.
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