The cash for clunkers program I wrote briefly about in a column, pointing to the one positive aspect of putting money directly available to consumers that they then spend...well, its over and can now be evaluated objectively:
"When we talk about government policies destroying wealth, we usually mean taxes that shift money from efficient to inefficient uses. Rarely do we mean the deliberate destruction of valuable assets. Yet, thanks to the Cash for Clunkers program, which ground to a halt yesterday, we now have a visual aid to help with this abstract concept. Mechanics tasked with destroying the so-called clunkers have been posting the videos on YouTube, often muttering in anger as they fill the engines of perfectly good Corvettes and Cadillacs with sodium silicate and then run them until they self-destruct."
"To get a sense of how much value the program has destroyed in its short lifespan, keep an eye on used-car prices, which are expected to skyrocket as dealers see their inventory sacrificed to Washington’s green gods. Look also at the 12 percent decline in used cars donated to charity. This is to say nothing of the extra use their owners could have gotten out of them if the government hadn’t subsidized their destruction. "
Read the rest for even more wasteful unintended consequences:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Yjc5YWNlNGM5NWJkMWVhZWFjOGRlOGYwMzNhNTg1MjY=
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