The Washington Independent » gas guzzlers

Yes, Taxpayers Paid to Trade Clunkers for Clunkers

Mike Lillis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:56:42 +0000

In June, when the Cash-for-Clunkers program — which provided a government subsidy to people who traded in older low-mileage vehicles to buy new, supposedly better-mileage vehicles — was humming to the tune of $1 billion, we wrote a piece warning that the program was hardly the environmental benefit its Capitol Hill supporters were claiming. Instead, “some truck and SUV drivers will be eligible for thousands of taxpayer dollars to purchase the latest version of the same large vehicle they’ve just scrapped — even in cases when the new model boasts just one- or two- miles-per-gallon better economy than the old.”

That’s precisely what happened.

Roughly 13 weeks after Congress infused $2 billion more into the Clunkers program — and about 10 weeks after the program ended — the Department of Transportation finally unveiled the final figures surrounding the program, posting the details of all 677,000 transactions on its Website. The Associated Press undertook the unenviable task of crunching the data, to discover that the single most popular swap was that of an old Ford F-150 pickup for a new Ford F-150 pickup.

Owners of that pickup were 17 times more likely to buy a new F-150 than, say, a Toyota Prius. The new pickups’ EPA combined city/highway mileage ratings ranged from 15 mpg to 17 mpg, depending on the powertrain and other factors, up 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the old ones.

That’s not to say there wasn’t some environmental benefit to the program. Indeed, the average trade-in vehicle got 15.8 miles per gallon, while drive-away vehicles averaged 24.9 mpg. Still, how much better could those numbers have been if Congress had summoned the guts to pass a slightly different Clunkers bill — one that bumped up the mileage requirements to prevent drivers from trading clunkers for clunkers? As Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the sponsors of the alternative bill, wrote in The Wall Street Journal in June, the original program was “expertly designed to provide Detroit one last windfall in selling off gas guzzlers currently sitting on dealer lots because they’re not a smart buy.”

Of course, in the end, both Feinstein and Collins voted for the $2 billion extension of that very windfall.

Cash-for-Clunkers Gains Support, Thanks to GOP Governors

Aaron Wiener — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:07:03 +0000

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) have found a novel way of punishing the Republican governors who are rejecting stimulus funds for their states: use the money to fund a liberal cause.

According to The New York Times, the two senators are drafting a letter to President Obama suggesting that the $1.7 billion in unemployment benefits that six governors have threatened to reject be used for a cash-for-clunkers program, which would offer financial incentives for people to trade in their old gas-guzzlers for new, fuel-efficient cars.

The governors of Alaska, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas have signaled that they will not accept the portion of federal stimulus funding allocated for state unemployment benefits. However, if the rejected funds would otherwise be used for a liberal environmental cause (rather than deficit reduction or another conservative goal), it’s easy to imagine that some of these governors might go back on their pledge.

Feinstein and Schumer, along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), sent a letter to Obama today that encouraged a cash-for-clunkers program but made no mention of the funding method that Feinstein and Schumer seem to be advocating independently of Collins.

Obama has indicated his support of cash-for-clunkers, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll fund it in a way that could easily antagonize GOP governors.

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Who Said We Would Learn a Lesson From the Summer’s Gas Spike?

Mike Lillis — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:48:07 +0000

This is a couple of days old, but worth a mention: With gas prices dropping ever further in recent months, the country’s fetish for big, gas-guzzling vehicles has returned. According to numbers released last week by Edmunds.com, an automotive analysis Website, trucks and SUVs will outsell cars in December for the first time in nine months.

“Despite all the public discussion of fuel efficiency, SUVs and trucks are the industry’s biggest sellers right now as a remarkable number of buyers seem to be compelled by three factors: great deals, low gas prices and winter weather,” said Michelle Krebs, Senior Editor of Edmunds‘ AutoObserver.com.

Is anyone else thinking “Scarface” right now? As in: I have this big pile of coke on my desk and I just can’t keep my face out of it.

(Who said gas tax?)