Video: Ron Paul – “Cash For Clunkers Hurts the Poor”

http://www.reboottherepublic.com/blog/currentevents/video-ron-paul-cash-for-clunkers-hurts-the-poor/

 

I didn't watch this video, but I think this is pretty obvious. All our trade ins used to end up at places like JD Byrider or one of those lots on Florida Blvd, and some poor dude would get a fairly reliable car for not too much money. Now all the cars that would end up on those lots are getting destroyed, so the poor dude has to go by a crappy car from a tote the note lot, or go into rediculous amounts of debt buying a 2 year old program car.

 

I'm willing to bet that poor people (at least the smart ones) buy more fuel efficient cars than gas guzzlers...

 

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poor people buy whatever they can afford, which almost mean always used cars, which means no cash for clunkers for them.

cash for clunkers is a hugely destructive force to the economy, and poor people in particular. poor people are the ones who need a healthy economy the most. and cash for clunkers costs taxpayers dearly, while destroying wealth.

next time you have a pay stub in your hand, and you reflect on how much was taken out for taxes, dont forget that you worked a little so that the government could pay some idiot to trash his old car. how exactly do you, as a taxpayer benefit from that?

here is an idea. let taxpayers buy new goddamn cars when they want them, with thier own money.

somebody get red in here and we can be outraged together at what an extremist nutty program this is.

 

Yes, because a cheap gas guzzler doesn't do you any good if you can't afford to put gas in it.

 

what are you saying? do you dispute that cash for clunkers hurts the poor?

 

The requirements for upgrading from a cheap gas guzzler aren't exactly putting you in an earth saving machine of iceberg restoration either.



http://www.edmunds.com/cash-for-clunkers/stimulus-bill.html

 

I am saying that the effect on the poor is minimal because the poor either don't buy cars or the poor don't buy cars that cost $50 - $60 to fill with gas. The positive effects outweigh the negative. This is good-old-fashioned forced capitalism painted a shade of green to please the hippies. There's nothing wrong at all with enticing people to spend more money on American automobiles for a positive effect on American manufacturing.

You said it yourself: poor people buy what they can afford.

Surely you understand that there is more to affording a car than the note you're saddled with. There's the weekly gas bill, insurance, maintenance, etc. How much money are you really saving yourself by purchasing a car for cheap when you can't pay to keep it filled with gas?

Your argument that cash-for-clunkers is a "hugely destructive force to the economy" is tenuous at best.

I'm not concerned with icebergs. This planet will be here long after humans have killed themselves off. We're a mild case of eczema as far as Mother Earth is concerned.

I'm much more concerned with reducing our dependency on oil to sources that we can control.

 

the poor people i see drive old crappy cars. and then they junk those and buy used cars. cash for clunkers is destroying the used cars they would buy.

incorrect.

forced capitalism is a contradiction in terms. this is something much worse than capitalism.

there isnt just "enticing" happening here. there is taking billions from taxpayers. money they worked for and want to keep. you act like this 4500 dollars taken from the taxpayer and given to automakers comes from magical fairyland. if people want to buy a car, let them buy a car! dont take their money so other people can buy a car. if the US automakers fail, then so be it, maybe they were run poorly and deserved to fail. another company will come along and replace them.

if i want to buy a car, why cant i just buy one, why should i pay taxes and then have those taxes given right back to me so i can use them for a new car? why cant i just buy a car directly if i want one?

do you understand that billions of dollars taken from taxpayers is a bad idea? particularly when the money is paid out for no real benefit and to destroy perfectly good cars?

then why not spend those billions on transit? why buy more cars?

the problem here is the mindset that government money comes from nowhere. taxes are not "free". cash for clunkers is not free money from saturn. it is money taken from people by force, money that could power the economy.