Our Government has such a big heart that this year for Valentine's Day we received from our leaders in Washington an economic stimulus package to help us with our economy. It is estimated that the package will run about $168 billion, and that the Government will borrow about $117 billion over the next 2 years to cover the stimulus package. We all understand that this will enlarge our budget deficit.
Well, I had a crazy idea that I thought I would share. What if the Government in addition to the check in the mail, gave everyone that was getting a check a voucher to buy a new, made in the USA, hybrid car or SUV? Free! That would help the economy, put people to work and hopefully reduce the amount of foreign oil we import. The Government could buy your used car from the dealer and either sell them to another country or sell them for scrap. The idea I like best is for the Government to take all the used cars that must be turned in when the voucher is used, and build a wall with the used cars along our southern border with Mexico. This piece of contemporary art, much like the Cadillac Ranch piece of art on the highway outside of Amarillo, Texas, would be a masterpiece of contemporary sculpture and make Lou Dobbs happy as well. We would accomplish several things with this one idea. First, we would get more people back to work. Second, we would get a sizable number of older model cars and SUV's off the highways and roads. Third, we may actually use less gas and as a result import less foreign oil. This may also lower the price of a barrel of oil. Fourth, it would be a real boost to the acceptance of Hybrid cars by the general population. Fifth, we would create a great piece of Contemporary American Art along our southern border with Mexico. Think of all the people that would travel to the USA to see such a massive contemporary sculpture. And Sixth, it would keep out illegal aliens and restore a measure of security to Homeland Security. And, just think, all that from just one crazy idea. What about the price tag of such a stimulus package? Well, we would again have to borrow more money, but I think there would be more good to come out of this than meets the eye. And, how can we measure the amount of good feelings to come out of this about our Government? All those "free" cars will cost billions, but the good feelings that this will generate -- priceless.
I have read that the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 will be like a shot of adrenaline to the economy. My idea is more like a shot of nitroglycerin to the economy. What do you think?
Stay tuned.
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3 comments:
I like your blog. I just found it today.
S.B.
http://bethriftylikeus.blogspot.com/
A hybrid car for every driver in the USA? That's conservatively $15,000 times 150 million drivers, which comes out to more than 2 TRILLION dollars. On top of that you would be scrapping tens of millions of perfectly good cars. And if nobody else bought the used cars, then the government buyback would end up being yet another large taxpayer expenditure.
I think it would be a disaster.
If people liked the idea of buying a hybrid car with a loan and scrapping their (still working) used car, then they would be doing it anyways on their own. That's the beauty of the free market system. Why would they want to do the exact same thing as a group of 150 million? They would still have to pay off the loan - it would just be taxed from their paychecks instead of a monthly payment. There's absolutely no difference in the long run.
This is a problem that I have with certain political persuasions here in the US. They think that average people are "too stupid" to know what's good for them (scrap your car and buy a hybrid), so they turn to government to either encourage or force people to do something that really isn't in their interest.
I love the wall idea! I especially love it because we just spent $50B in Iraq and I have no idea what for? Oh yea, you just said it in your previous post, to keep those that own 2% of the US debts happy!
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