Cash for Clunkers

So I bought a 2009 Ford Escape from a dealer halfway to hell (close to Dallas.) I got a great deal on the vehicle.

2500 rebate
1500 dealer incentives
4500 cash for clunkers

This was off an SUV with a 21k msrp. I got a new car and by buying it already have some equity in it with very little money down. This was made possible by trading in my 2001GMC Sonoma which had almost 100k miles and a broken AC. I couldn't have gotten more than $500 cash for this old faithful truck. I am excited. Excited enough to write my congressman a thankyou note? Not likely.

This program is nothing more than another tax subsidy called a stimulus, disguised as an environmentally conscious act of humanitarianism. It is aimed at pleasing many people and showing that promises of "change" are being fulfilled. However, all that is really occuring is that many people who are already in debt are being given a $4500 lifeline of "equity" with which to plunge themselves further in debt. This is just another example of money being created spontaneously in an attempt to further prop up a world economy drenched in bad debt.

Why disguise this and add so much complexity to what are no more than a couple simple subsidies? Why not just give a check to the automakers for half of the $3 billion this program is costing us taxpayers? If you needed to spend the extra $1.5 to million as a stimulus you could have sent each of us a check for $100 and then everyone wouldn't have to buy a car to benefit. If we need cleaner cars, just make manufacturers build them that way! Why are you blending all of these programs together and leaving us all further in debt?