Cash For Clunkers Means Throwing Away Good Cars, Parts
I just posted the following as a comment to a great article entitled Is Cash for Clunkers Stimulating the Economy?
The wastefulness of destroying perfectly serviceable cars is unconscionable. For every Explorer engine that’s intentionally ruined by being run to destruction under government-mandated procedures, there’s another Explorer with engine problems whose financially struggling owner would benefit from the availability of a good used engine, or maybe just one or two key parts from that engine.
With a used head from eBay and a fresh valve job, this '88 Dodge Raider runs like new, but still qualifies for taxpayer-subsidized euthanasia.
Destroying an old car and replacing it with a new one takes a lot of energy and resources. So depicting Cash for Clunkers as “green” is misleading at best. Further, cash for clunkers benefits only a narrow slice of the public– it does nothing for those of us who buy only used cars, or those of us who drive an older car that gets over 18 mpg. The nail in the coffin is the huge bill for taxpayers.
As a user and do-it-yourself maintainer of older cars, I lose thrice: I don’t qualify, good recycled parts are destroyed, which drives up prices… and I’m taxed to support the measure. Bad, bad program.
P.S. It’s sick. They pour sodium slicate into engines and run them to destruction. How is this different from, say, hiring vandals to break windows so that glassmakers and handymen have more work? Valuable property is being destroyed.
P.P.S. Is Cash for Clunkers really good for the environment? See this article.