I couldn't let this article by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air go unchallenged... w/ Update

While Mr. Morrissey is correct that used car prices have risen as a result of the Cash for Clunkers program, there is one thing he says in his article  "Used car prices skyrocket a year after Cash for Clunkers"
  I can safely say from the standpoint of being a former car salesman that is just ridiculous and, well, a bit elitist sounding.

The following statement at the end of his article states  (emphasis mine)

As predicted last year, the people most hurt by the price increases are those who can least afford them.  The used-car market usually attracts people who need transportation on a budget, who cannot afford to buy new.   By destroying a quarter’s worth of trade-ins in three weeks and permanently taking them off the market, the Obama administration has forced an artificial inflation by supply restriction.  Moreover, they did so by subsidizing new-car sales that would have occurred anyway, eating up three billion dollars in taxpayer money.

In other words, the White House spent $3 billion to make used cars more expensive for working-class families.  Nice work.

Buying a new car, even if you can afford to do so, is not a very wise thing to do.  Most people that are millionaires rarely buy a new car.  Once that shiny new car goes "over the curb" from the lot, it has depreciated approximately 20%.  The rate of depreciation slows down for the next few years, and starts to drop like a rock at about 5 years old.   The smarter option is to buy a car that is perhaps one year old with low miles (30K or under), and trade it in after about 3 years.

Ed's statement that only working-class people buy used cars is disingenuous and a bit smarmy.  Before I sold cars for a living, I always bought new and made payments.  Now I always buy used and pay cash.  And I would hardly call my auto "transportation on a budget", even though the most I've ever paid for a car is 10K.    When I see young families driving around in a 35K or above SUV, you can bet your bottom dollar they have a whopping big car payment.  I don't call that smart at all.

Update:

From Gateway Pundit guest contributer Warner Todd Huston:
Cash For Clunkers Hurting Lower Class Car Buyers

Good grief!  Now people that buy used cars are "lower class." 


A lot of wisdom in this clip from the classic movie "Used Cars"

Unintended Consequences?

The Real Cost of Cash for Clunkers

My 1995  Chrysler LHS, which I dearly love, is starting to become cranky about certain issues. With a heavy heart, I have decided it must be replaced. My husband and I don't buy new cars.  When you drive a new car off a lot, it's value drops by 15%-20%, and we don't like car payments, preferring to pay cash.

But guess what.  Cash for Clunkers, Obama's stupid program which destroyed perfectly good cars, has left a huge hole in the used car market.  Not only are there not very many used cars available, but the price has been driven up. 

This means that my husband and I helped kick in a $4500.00 rebate to folks so they could buy a new car, which they either intended to buy anyway, or probably couldn't  really afford, and we will end up paying as much as $1000.00 or more for a good used car. That is, if we can find one.

Before "welfare for cars" rolled out, anyone with three black eyed peas rolling around in their head knew this would happen.  Can the result be called an "unintended consequence."?  Why no, no it can't!

Related: 

Doug Ross at Journal: Chrysler is going out of business. The company hasn't made it official
USA Today:  Clunkers program could drive used car prices up

Cash for Clunkers

The government will run health care the same way it's running "cash for clunkers." Now that should send a chill up your spine.

Am I the only person who thinks that squishing what is in many cases a perfectly good automobile is almost immoral?


Liberalism and the Dumbing Down of America
By Lauri B. Regan

As Barack Obama spends day after day touring the world (how many days has he spent in the Oval Office?), trashing America and taking the country on a trip to hell in a hand basket, the liberal electorate and fawning media for the most part remain completely enthralled by the One. Although his poll numbers have dropped considerably, liberals have yet to abandon ship as they remain strong supporters of the Dictator-in-Chief despite his anti-American agenda. read the rest of this excellent article

Call Me Selfish!

House approves $2B more for 'cash for clunkers'

WASHINGTON – The House has voted to rush an additional $2 billion into the popular but financially strapped "cash for clunkers" car purchase program. read the rest


Call me selfish if you want, but I don't want to fund your new car. I also don't want to pay for your health insurance or your mortgage.

Enough!!!

The Dems call this "common ground"?

Waxman Strong-arms Vote to Allow Abortion Coverage in Public Plan

[...]
the committee passed an amendment that is being billed by some Democrats as a "common ground" measure on abortion. The amendment--sponsored by Lois Capps (D-Calif.), whose National Right to Life Committee vote-scorecard is 0 for 74--would allow the "public option" to provide coverage for elective abortions and would allow federally subsidized private plans to provide abortion coverage as well. How exactly could this be construed as "common ground"? Congress isn't requiring the public option to cover abortion--merely allowing it. And through some nifty bookkeeping, abortions will supposedly be paid for out of private funds rather than tax dollars. read it all