Here we have a bill that rewards exactly the wrong people, viz., those who shoveled their money into their gas tanks for the past 15 or so years by buying monster SUVs and 8 cylinder behemoths. Where's my new car subsidy for keeping a 4 cylinder Acura on the road for 15 years? Where's yours for taking public transportation and not owning a car at all?
This bill stinks. Sure, the dealers like it and the small number of people benefiting like it, but for the rest of us, it's a bag job. You get $3500 for trading in a 16 mpg vehicle for an 18 mpg vehicle? Wow. That just makes me feel like the Earth is going to be saved real soon.
This seems like a "popular" program, but it's a stupid government giveaway to people who don't deserve it. It's patently unfair to people who actually have made environmentally-based car purchases over the years. It rewards bad behavior. And politically, it's stupid. It's really only popular with the small number of people taking advantage of it, and car dealers. Try using them as an electoral base.
One thing--in contrast to Obama's other program, the mortgage relief effort, this one seems actually to be functioning--unfortunately.