The House is rushing to pour an additional $2 billion into the Cash for Clunkers boondoogle. That means more of your money, or more likely your grandchildrens' money, will help your neighbor buy a car.
The dead weight loss to the American economy is staggering. Thousands of perfectly good cars will be scrapped because Congress wants to curry favor with car dealers and car companies. Reader William Albenzi reminds me of the Broken Window Parable, in which destruction is mistaken for economic activity. Regardless of the cost to the Treasury, the cost of scrapping functional automobiles for a marginal increase in fuel economy is huge. Even weighed on purely environmental grounds, the benefits of increases as small as one mile per gallon must be offset by the sheer tonnage of rusting hulks added to American scrapyards.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Congressman Paul Hodes tell WMUR-TV that this massive diversion of economic activity is a success. Perhaps next week, they will go around breaking our windows for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment