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What “Cash for Clunkers” Was Really All About

Posted by freedomforall 5 months, 3 weeks ago to Politics
39 comments | Share | Flag

Excerpt:
"You may recall the Obama-era “Cash for Clunkers” business. It was a very dirty business and a key element of Obama’s declared intention to fundamentally transform the United States – though to this day many people do not understand just how key it has proved to be.

The plan was sold to the public as a means of “stimulating” the then-flatlined American car industry, which was almost literally (and in GM’s case, actually) bankrupt. The idea was to get people to buy new cars by paying them to throw away their old cars.

Italics added.

The cars were not traded in. Not even “parted out” – i.e., their major components (such as their engines, in particular) removed in order to be re-sold to someone in need of low-cost replacement parts. They were destroyed. Engines dosed with silica and then run until they seized – so as to render them unusable.

Consider the implications.

The Obama regime surely did.

While on the surface – as in, superficially – the “cash for clunkers” program was about getting people to buy new cars, it was fundamentally about getting rid of affordable (older) cars. And the reason for that was to fundamentally transform the country – by breaking the generations-long tradition of young people becoming independently mobile almost-adults while they were still in their teens."


All Comments

  • Posted by tutor-turtle 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    Ted Kennedy was once asked by Donald Trump "who was the dummest man in Congress?". He answered, without hesitation, Joe Biden.
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  • Posted by $ gharkness 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    I dunno....I smile every time I think about my 1969 Mustang convertible :-) (But nobody bought it for me....I bought it for myself!)
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    Me dino was unaware that jerk even walked the earth until an Obamanation picked him to run with him as vice-president.
    Told a lib I knew that I could not believe BuyDumb had been picked due to the stupid blather that kept coming out of his mouth.
    The lib became offended and told me that doofus was a well-respected member of Congress.
    "Well respected?" I exclaimed, laughing long and hard.
    That lib never talked to me ever again. I didn't miss him.
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  • Posted by term2 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    Today, they think they are entitled to drive what suits their personality. I thought a car was for transportation .....
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  • Posted by tutor-turtle 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    Yup. $100-dollar-specials. Buy one, drive it until it won't pass state inspection, buy another.
    10 years old and/or 100K miles on the clock was rule for a cheap ride.
    One wheel in the ditch, and the other in the bone yard.
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  • Posted by tutor-turtle 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    The lie goes so much deeper. The Kenyan said "We must get those inefficient, polluting old cars off the road"
    In reality, cars in the 4 to 7-year-old range were what was destroyed.
    The perfect used car for all sorts of people including adults who could not (and still can not) afford a new car.
    And riddle me this Batman, what was the source of the "Cash"?
    Don't hesitate too long, you know full well who paid to have all those perfectly good cars destroyed: We The Taxpayers
    Not only did it wreck the used car market, it wrecked the car parts market and the car repair market
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  • Posted by ohiocrossroads 5 months, 3 weeks ago
    Yes, that's what it was about. But people see through that crap now. After a decade of the gummint pushing EV's they are piling up on lots and manufacturers are pulling the plug on their production. People see how expensive new cars are and are holding onto their old ones.
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  • Posted by $ Stormi 5 months, 3 weeks ago
    To me, it was Obama sucking up to the UN, who wanted cars gone. It was about Obama pushing EVs, which would quickly take down the grid, but importantly, make cars out of the range where the young families and poor could not afford to buy a new car, and the used ones were destroyed. Oh, vey diabolical, as I see it.
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  • Posted by $ Abaco 5 months, 3 weeks ago
    Always thought it was about organized labor in the automotive industry. Was I right? (I didn't read it)
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  • Posted by term2 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    I started being interest in mechanical things with my first 1950 Plymouth (affectionately named the HEAP). One thing led to another, and I wound up learning mechanical engineering and using that to invent and sell products I manufactured. That old car was really helpful in giving me the confidence to become an engineer. Today, its much more difficult for young people to even understand the complexities of today's cars (its nice when they work though!!) . How is the country going to survive? Maybe everyone codes and plays video games I suppose.
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  • Posted by term2 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    My first car was a 1950 plymouth I got when I was 17 (minimum age to drive in NJ), which hardly ran, but I didn't care for the price of $25. It needed new valves, which I installed myself somehow. It ran for a number of years reliably until I could afford to move up to a used 1957 chryser that my aunt sold me cheap. Today, I don't think this route is available, given car complexity and costs.
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  • Posted by term2 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    Ever really use public transport ? Its ridiculously inefficient, actually not as safe as they are promoting, and it takes forever to get around. Not to mention that it uses public money which it gets from YOUR pocket.
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  • Posted by term2 5 months, 3 weeks ago
    Today its almost imperative to NOT listen to people trying to get you to do things or think a certain way. Hidden Agendas are everywhere today, and they are there to benefit the person pushing them- NOT YOU. I have adopted the following- Listen to what they say, analyze it without the emotion they seem to put into their arguments and formulate what they REALLY want- See if THAT benefits you,and act accordingly.

    Almost universally what is being promoted DOESNT benefit the receiver.
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  • Posted by jchristyatty 5 months, 3 weeks ago
    And here I thought is was to get rid of all the Obama/Biden bumper stickers
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  • Posted by $ Snezzy 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    There is another pre-electronics transportation device available, and we own several of them, as well as the necessary four-footed engine.
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  • Posted by $ Snezzy 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    We're all pickup trucks. Newest one is a 97 Ranger that's waiting for me to fix it. Maybe. Best one is a 92 Dodge 250 Cummins 12-valve, next best the same thing but a dually 350, 1993. Our other truck is an 87 Dodge with the 316 V8, and our excellent mechanic keeps it going well. The Cummins engines have given almost no trouble in 30 years. The going price for a used D250 dropped from our $20,000 purchase price to about $5000 a few years ago, but now you can get them for about $35,000.

    So one day in the Walmart parking lot a guy said to me, "I had one of those (D250) and like an idiot I sold it. You wanna sell me that one?" I said, "Do I look like an idiot?"
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  • Posted by $ gharkness 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes, but I raised my kids there and they were driving at 15, because they HAD to if they wanted to go anywhere. As long as they needed me to drag them around, I did so (for legit reasons.) But the INSTANT they were able, they managed their own transport. I totally get what you mean. I've been so shocked to see kids these days relying on their parents in their late teens AND twenties.
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  • Posted by rhfinle 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    The newest one we have, that wasn't inherited from dead relatives, is a '99. I'm going to put the miles on my father-in-law's 2010 Ram until it drops, then switch back to one of my old Jeeps.
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  • Posted by Aeronca 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    Also true. A lot of modern cars now need the dealer or shop to use a $700 computer to release the brake pistons. No longer a cheap easy home job to change your brake pads.
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  • Posted by Aeronca 5 months, 3 weeks ago
    So sad, these people are evil, attacking the youth. No wonder they are so angry and apathetic. And then smashed with the false hope of a miraculous education with nothing but debt-slavery resulting. I'd feel the same way if the Government did that to me.
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  • Posted by rhfinle 5 months, 3 weeks ago
    "Cash for clunkers" was at least partially about putting small-time mechanics out of business.
    I have a particular bone to pick with this program. I'm a Jeep nut. Among other things I have four XJ Cherokees. A large number of these solid, dependable cars were pretty much thrown away because of Obama's program. I went to a Dallas junkyard and pulled parts for my '96 off of an identical '96 which in every way was in nicer shape than mine - except that it had had the engine purposefully destroyed. I hope the previous owner enjoyed the $250 he got for it. I would have considered that the worst deal in history, losing a dependable 4wd car that got around 26 MPG. I'm sure he'll be glad to know that a part of his nice jeep lives on, in my primary bug-out vehicle, somewhere in SC.
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  • Posted by bobsprinkle 5 months, 3 weeks ago in reply to this comment.
    ok. my bad. I see you said GRANDkids.
    I lived in Dallas for about 13 years. Seemed like personal transportation was needed for survival. But, we all have different circumstances
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