Shit we don't learn from history....
New Deal v. 1.0 brought us some classic stuff--like the notion of enforced scarcity whereby the wise men in the government would cut supply of a thing in order to prop up prices....things like killing baby pigs and plowing up crops while people were going hungry. How stupid is that? If people have a problem being hungry, who other than a keynesian politician would think cutting the supply of food is a good idea?
anyhoo....
the hits just keep on coming...a new new deal plan may be on the way:
link
in addition to subsidizing new cars, the government is going to pay to slaughter the trade-ins:
Quote:
Under a bill introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D.-Calif., owners of older cars would get vouchers worth thousands of dollars toward the purchase of newer, more fuel-efficient vehicle. For the customer to get that cash, the car dealer would have to certify that the trade-in was getting scrapped and not resold. The car's vehicle identification number (VIN) would be tracked to make sure it never shows up on a vehicle registration again.
Crushing the old car has two benefits. First, it ensures that the consumer's purchase of a more efficient vehicle actually has a net environmental benefit. Second, it prevents a glut of used cars on the market, which would reduce trade-in values for new car buyers, which would cut into the sales incentive effect.
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so....the situation in the auto market is such that supplies are abundant -- way abundant to the point where some autoworkers need to find another way to make a living and auto buyers ought to see prices dropping...especially in the used car market.
But the government, in their infinite wisdom, wants to rectify an entirely tolerable situation by destroying economic resources. This is classic 'person a digs the hole and person b fills it up' kind of stuff.