The Other Side

Nope - this is not about a near-death experience, or holding a seance. It's about the Democrat view of bills like the Cash For Clunkers bill and now the new bill being presented that is the same thing with a new name. This is not for political purposes, but for understanding.

As you can see by one of the comments in the previous post, the liberal New York Times printed an article by a democrat economist who opposes republican economists. He tries to make the point - and many low-income folks buy into this - that since most "clunkers" are owned by poor people, it would provide them money that they would use to infuse the economy.

What this economist seems to have missed is a little thing called "reality". Last year, President Bush authorized a tax rebate for that same purpose - to get people spending. Most poorer families received an average of $1200-$1500.

But the result was not as expected - instead of rushing out to buy new product like flat screen TV's and cars, a whopping 84% of that money was used to pay off debt - purchases made previously - which did nothing to boost the economy. In order to boost the economy, money must be spent on new products and services, to keep business humming, and you and I employed (well, not me. I don't hold down a job).

It appears that backers of such bills just do not think things through - they get a brainstorm, then run with it, without even attempting to follow it through to the eventual conclusion. It LOOKS like it will help a little tomorrow, so they never bother to look to see what the long-term effects will be. In this case, they never considered us, our hobby, the tens of thousands of businesses that depend on our hobby, all those employees, or the tens of millions our hobby produces for charities each year. Nope. All they saw was "Gee, we'll get some old cars off the road and maybe the folks will actually use that money to buy new cars."

Sorry - the low-income folks they are targeting, particularly in this economy, will not be buying many new cars. They will just take the $4,000, buy another $3,000 clunker and use the other $1000 to pay off other bills. No new cars to bolster the auto industry or reduce emissions, and no stimulus to the economy. None.

Rich Senators do not understand that, because they have never been poor. They think with a fat wallet. We think with holes in our pockets.

Now, the reason for this "political" post. Some of you, adversely affected by the recession, may be tempted to let these bills slide through so you can pocket a little dough. I can't blame you for that. But if you do that, you can believe that, in the long run, it will do you much more harm than good. And when that little bit of cash is gone, it is unlikely you will be better off for it.

So, please - contact the senators of Maine, and contact Feinstein and Waxman. Let them know this is a bad bill, and needs to be put into the same junkyard as the Cash For Clunkers bill that was shot down last week.

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