Cash for clunkers

Our Government at Work

It is good to see customer service is not dead. Our government has once again extended the deadline for the cash for clunkers program. Excellent. Except for the fact that they are not extending it for you. They are "extending" the program because they have been overwhelmed with demand from dealers that cannot get through for approval. No automated system, you have to wait for someone. Very efficient. Good to know our representatives think of the details. Currently the average wait time is 30 minutes, and dealers are recommended to call back if they are disconnected. It is good to know that our government cares about us. It is the handling of programs like these that gives us all confidence in the ability of the government to be responsible and responsive to what the people need. It is also good to know that they are using our money wisely. Remember the transparency thing? We spent 3 billion of your money so that someone could get a new car. While I am sure these individuals are very happy with the new car, did you enjoy paying for it? Yes, all tax money comes from your pockets, including the interest we are paying China to hold most of our debt. Congratulations, the 3 billion will be 3.9 billion, that is 3,900,000,000. It will be interesting to see how many cars were actually purchased for that money. If you take the 3 billion assume all 4,050 was used, 740,000 cars would have been purchased, but only 625,000 were actually purchased. Meaning that 115,000 cars were not funded due to overhead for the program. That means that over 20 percent of your money was used to make sure that when you bought someone a car the rules were followed.

Remember why the program is being "extended"? The money is still being spent, and more money will be required to shut the program down. The program is being extended to allow for dealers to call in and obtain approval when the whole system has been unavailable. Bet you won't hear about that as a lead in on CNN. These things are buried on page 6, and thus most people won't see them, and others will refuse to acknowledge what they mean. Examine the actual expenditures of our federal system sometime. Programs like Amtrak has never been profitable and we sink an average of 4 billion a year into the program. Our post office is an example of the fine customer service we can expect when the Cap and Trade bills go into effect and our healthcare is managed by the government. Talk to veterans who must receive healthcare from our VA system or the Bureau of Indian Affairs to see how happy they are about their care. Take off the rose colored glasses, ask hard questions like do I really need to help pay for someone else's car?

The Depression is not over...

Yes, this is a depression. Regardless of what those trying to garner votes for various initiatives are trying to tell us. A depression is defined as a period where the GDP is reduced by 10 percent. Since we have over 10 percent unemployment (the government numbers only reflect those who qualify for unemployment benefits). These numbers do not include things like the small business that has gone under, and the owner who is now looking to recover. So the article in the LA times that "Retail sales fall 5.1% in July despite back-to-school lures" , is merely stating what a reasonable person could deduce without a lot of thought. However, it seems that people are confused. We have taxes and government encroachment at record levels, companies closing, and unemployment at the highest level since 1983, and the Market Oracle in the UK is calling these numbers Depression levels. We are decimating entire submarkets with programs like the "Cash for clunkers" which is nearly crippling the spare parts industry which has relied upon salvage to continue. With the government destroying the cars that supply the spare parts they are ensuring that we will be forced into the new models that are "green" and environmentally friendly. Much like the light bulbs that use less electricity, have only a slightly longer life span and are filled with toxic and hazardous mercury. So if we dispose of them in the landfill we pollute our water supply much more than a clean coal factory will produce carbon gases.

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So retail sales are falling why is this a shock and why are we surprised? We are not building anything, we have outsourced many of the technologically sound jobs to India, the Philippines, and Mexico, but we have kept the really important fast food jobs here. It is tough to afford designer clothes on a McDonalds paycheck. This will impact everything, not just clothing, but technology and every industry within this country. We are not creating things or even managing them, we are putting money into a mismanaged and now government controlled financial services industry, which is making 38 billion in nothing but overdraft fees. The solution is actually simple, it is just no one really wants to go through the pain. Much like diet and exercise, we need to put discipline upon our spending, and realize that life and everyday is a gift and not a right and start treating them as such. We do not need insurance to pay for all aspects of healthcare, we do not need the government to buy our cars in exchange for others that fund the general fund, we do not need a social security system. We need to start taking care of ourselves and taking the government out of the equation. The argument is that some people can't take care of themselves. True, but then we the people can figure out how to solve that problem and not pass that responsibility to another. The Bill Gates foundation has immunized more people in 1 year than the UN has in 10, for considerably less money. The difference? Someone who actually cares, and a group that exists for themselves. The government is filled with brilliant people, in a twisted and self focused system. We need to take those people and let them go back to industry and solve real problems instead of creating them.