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CARS is CRAP: Cash for clunkers program wasteful, poorly planned supplemental bailout for Big Three
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I do not want any of the big three to fail. Auto manufacturing is a part of American culture and we would be a shell of a country without it—in a sense, the way Detroit has become a shell of a town without it. The United States without a competitive auto industry is a country without dignity and without a heart, and allowing this to happen would be unconscionable.
Giving people a credit to turn in their inefficient older model cars for a credit towards a new vehicle seems like a sound concept that could have significant environmental benefits and give the struggling auto industry the push that it needs. The CARS cash for clunkers program has been a booming success for the Big Three, with Ford seeing their first increase in sales in over five years. But the problem with cash for clunkers is in the fate of the cars that are turned in, not in the benefit for automakers.
What happens to cars that are “recycled”?
They make it sound oh so pleasant. “We’ll recycle your car for you! Bring it on in and we’ll make it into a bunch of trees and little birds that sing show tunes to squirrels!” Even if it cannot be expected to be quite so pretty, there is an expectation that a “recycled” car’s parts will have a new lease on life in the form of replacement parts. This expectation is a false one, as 99% of the car will be shredded, crushed into a cube and junked.
The Specialty Equipment Market Association continually warns that this type of scrappage program is not only bad for the environment; it significantly impacts the auto repair, restoration and customization industries. “This industry provides thousands of American jobs and generates millions of dollars in local, state and federal tax revenue. It is time to help the entire auto industry with programs that focus the incentive on the purchase of new vehicles, not destroying valuable old cars and parts,” said Steve McDonald SEMA president of government affairs.
The big sticking point for me is the engines and transmissions in all cars turned in for this BS recycling program must be “disabled” (read: destroyed), reducing the car’s scrap value to almost nothing. Why can’t the engines be disassembled and sold for parts? What is the compelling reason to destroy the most valuable and useful part of the car? Check out this instructional video that shows dealers how to disable an engine. Yes, it is painful to watch, but it demonstrates the wastefulness of this program in graphic detail: (Note, this involves replacing the engine oil with sodium silicate (glass) and water mix and running the engine at 2,000 rpm until it dies a slow and painful death)
Does destroying things just so we can buy new things make us more American? How does promoting wasteful consumerism help the environment? I am well aware that most Americans have long since lost the resourcefulness and desire to repair anything, and that has been replaced by a false need to have new everything, all the time. For a few fleeting moments, it looked like people were wising up, realizing it is more cost effective to hold on to their cars and run them out to 100k before it needs to be turned in. Instability slapped consumers out of a spending, buying and wasting stupor and back into a routine of maintenance and repair. Why the hell take on payments when a five-year-old car runs just fine? Well, America has snapped out of that moment, and like so many dreams that are lost in a disturbed slumber, this one may be gone forever.
COMING SOON: CARS is CRAP II: What cash for clunkers should have looked like.
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