'Cash for clunkers' buzz comes with some frustration at local dealers

[notesdev]

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/article_18f4237c-78b4-11de-a884-001cc4c03286.html

I'll spare you the local part of the story, here's the meat of it:

But Curry warned people interested should pursue the option quickly, saying this cash-for-cars deal won't last forever. It ends whenever $1 billion in federal funds has been doled out or on Nov. 1, whichever arrives first.

"That money won't last a month," added Curry.

Half went to establishing and operating the program, he said, so really there's only about $500 million available to the public.

What level of graft and corruption is required to spend $500 million administering a program to distribute $500 million cash? If this were a charity it would be widely derided as a fundraising scam.

When you figure in the added costs of the funds (interest on the debt, since we have to borrow that money; tax collection costs; internal government costs associated with the legislation) one has to ask: was this ever intended to help anybody but the politicians' friends who won this contract?

[Nickster]

1. I'm betting the money is used up by the end of the first week.

[truedelphi]

2. Yet still we are told not to criticize this Administration

And this Democratic Congress.


I will say this though - I have watched modern life under the ever growing chain of agency overseers, government overseers, and this doesn't surprise me.

An activist group I knew of got some funds to look into a specific area of breast cancer and have it researched.

However the funding agency insisted that the local County government had to have an oversight role in administering the money, and yes, what that meant was that one half of the money ended up going to government bureaucracy.

So maybe this is becoming the norm?

[marketcrazy1]

3. the cost of this program

was budgeted at 50 million, that 500 million comment came from a car salesman!! LOL!! ( who wants to bet they expand and extend this program )

[truedelphi]

5. Ah that is a very good clarification.

It should not, in this day of computers doing the heavy duty deatils of data entry, bookkkeeping, cost more than 50 Million.

[TheWatcher]

4. The Question is, How will Goldman Sachs benefit from it?

Since they run the country, nothing really happens without it passing their approval first, and after they get their cut.