Dr. Newmark points us to a potential govt. program that would give $4500 vouchers to those that trade in an old clunker for a new car w/ better mileage.
"Under legislation introduced Wednesday in the House and Senate and called the "Cash for Clunkers" program, drivers could get vouchers of up to $4,500 when they turn in their old fuel-inefficient vehicles for scrapping and buy vehicles that get good gas mileage."Right off the bat I can see it being limited to 'American' cars, that being largely defined as those made by UAW workers. But let's ignore that for now. What else might happen? Any unintended side-effects?
Imagine all of the old POS V8 clunkers out there with a real street value of say $500. I can see buying one just to get a $4500 voucher. How many people would find, buy, register, and drive the polluting clunkers for a few months just to partake?! That would be quite a secondary market.
And think off all of the ones that technically run, but aren't used and are off the road, probably for good. How many people would register them and drive them for a while just to get the voucher? How many more old gas-guzzlers w/ terrible emissions would end up back on the road, if even for a while? It reminds me a bit of the gun buy-back programs we see in some cities.
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