The Government can’t run the simple one-size-fits-all “Cash for Clunkers” program. Here’s how complex it is: If you trade in an old gas guzzler for a new car that gets better mileage, the Government pays $4500 for the old car. The rules are simple. The cost is fixed. Whether you qualify is not a judgment call. Nobody needs a second opinion.
After 6 days the Government is shutting it down. It has already blown through the budget amount allocated, proving that it cannot predict costs farther out than next Tuesday. Within those short 6 days, it has created chaos and confusion by changing the rules unilaterally: it adjusted the mileage data assigned to some old cars. So you cut a deal with the local dealer, and before you can clean out your glove box, you learn that you no longer qualify.
“If they can’t administer a program like this, I’d be a little concerned about my health insurance,” car salesman Rob Bojaryn said.
As a baby-boomer, I will be entering clunkerhood before too long. After we enact the panacea of universal health care, will the Government be surprised to learn how many of us clunkers actually want treatment? Or will it simply change the rules, adjust our data, or substitute its judgment for that of our doctors?
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