cash for clunkerssounds pretty good... let's get the big gas guzzling fat cat cars off the road and get everybody into sensible efficient small cars... and lets help them do it.
except wait wait... um did they turn in the range rovers , and hummers, the suberbans and escalades? toyota land cruisers and lexus, nissan ... no... \no that's not how it went
they turned in 2 million:
1 ford explorer
2 ford f150
3jeep grand cherokee
4 jeep cherokee
5 dodge caravan
for
1ford fiesta
2toyota corolla
3honda civic
4toyota prius
5 toyota camray
so wait...we turn in AMERICAN CARS to sieze the engines and render them undrivable and get the people to buy foreign cars... (oh there was a ford fiesta in the mix,)
did we bale out the AMERICAN car companies for this?
did anyone do the math?
oh we don't teach math in school... we teach self esteem, I keep forgetting. I'm kinda interested in the self esteem of a man who trades in his ford f150 pickup for a ford fiesta this weekend. I wonder his self esteem when he pulls into the jobsite monday morning is a wimp car that can't carry a tool , saw, lumber, bags of soil garden tools... oh wait we are in a recession and he doesn't work and won't be able to pay for the car long and it will be repossessed ... so why am I even worried about the shortage of used cars.
I look at the list of cars that are turned in and I want to cry. these are not the enemy, these are not the gas guzzling offenders. these are the blue collar working man cars and work trucks of america.
I drive a chrysler town and country minivan. it has 267,000 proud miles. I usually have 1 person beside my self and often 3. I carry tools, paint scaffolding, ladders on top, art, equipment, concrete stain, sprayers, sealers, myself and a couple workers. The miles I drive are divided between 2 or 3 people. i do favors for people, i deliver art to shows for my associate when he has an art show, I pick up furniture on the road and recycle it. I get 22 miles to the gallon... and if you figure in the fact that I've kept a ton and a half out of landfill, given several mechanics a little work over the years, i've done more good than harm.
We are in the most severe recession since the great depression, i would dare to guess that some people who were forclosed on, lost jobs and work, also lost cars and could really use something serviceable and useful to buy inexpensively, a beater, starter car, in AA we car them newcomer cars... WE HAVE JUST SIEZED THE ENGINES ON 2 MILLION OF THEM, RENDERING THEM UN DRIVABLE. they poured liquid glass in the engines.
how many parts are wasted because of this?
waste waste waste...shameful!!!
Mechanics are going to see a huge slump in work, do we bale them out next?
I have nothing against any of these cars that people are buying for the right person. . I've been an advocate of efficient cars all along. most of the soccer moms driving along with a big tahoe should be ashamed, a smaller crossover would be a far better choice. these aren't the people who traded in. A ford f150 pickup? even an old beat up one has more value than new fiesta to a contractor or working man.
so
I'm mixed up again, are we to reduce reuse recycle? or waste? dump and squander our resources
