Cash for Clunkers is a good program for the following reasons:
- It is good for the environment.
- It is good for the economy.
- It helps people who need help most.
The first two are no-brainers.
It is good for the environment because it removes gas-guzzling SUVs from the roadways and replaces them with newer, more fuel-efficient cars. The new cars will pollute less and use less gas.
It is good for the economy because it encourages people to purchase vehicles that they might not otherwise purchase. More work for the dealerships, more production for the manufacturers, and more business for the finance companies...
But that is not my reason for this diary... the first I've written in a very long time.
The reason I wrote this diary is because of the girl I love. She is in the process of divorce and has a car that is no longer road-worthy. It is a 10-year-old SUV that was purchased three years ago. Pardon my French, but it is a total piece of fucking shit. It doesn't belong on the road. It is a gas hog and a safety nightmare. But it's all that she has, and she needs to get to work. Did I mention that she helps people for a living, making less money than her experience could garner?
Anyway... divorce is a tough road, and money can become a serious problem when you no longer have a partner to share expenses. Perhaps you need to find an apartment and pay all of the move-in fees (electric, gas, cable, etc.) plus moving expenses. You might even need to get some storage place because your crappy apartment is too small to hold all of your shit.
Bottom line... it fucking blows.
And let's suppose that you got totally ripped off on the SUV because you didn't have good credit. You still owe over $3,000 even though the vehicle is worth diddly-squat. And let's consider the possibility that you have trouble getting the vehicle title for your piece of crap SUV because the used car dealership is run by crooked motherfuckers... and you can't get the title before the end of Cash for Clunkers.
And while you're waiting for the vehicle title, the Cash for Clunkers program runs out of money. And now you're stuck with a pile of shit and no hope for a safe car.
Another week and perhaps she'll have the vehicle title... but that will be too late. And politicians are bickering about the cost of continuing the popular program. Maybe they could take a couple of billion dollars from the killing machine and put it towards helping people who desperately need help.
I urge all of you to contact your senators and urge them to support more money for Cash for Clunkers.
Thanks,
HTM