A clunker of a bill on several fronts

The “Cash for Clunkers” bill passed Congress with strong bipartisan support. No, that’s not great news. In fact, it explains why it has become so hard to distinguish Republicans from Democrats. So much is wrong with this legislation that it’s hard to know where to begin.

The bill’s constitutionality should be the starting point. No part of the US Constitution authorizes Congress to spend public money to subsidize the trading of personal merchandise. Of course, constitutionality is but a minor problem for Congress; they simply ignore it.

It’s not that hard, insomuch that we’ve become a nation governed by whims and whines rather than laws, checks and balances. Let’s put that troublesome Constitution thingy aside and focus on other lamentable aspects of Cash for Clunkers.

Isn’t it government officials who are always telling us that it’s government’s job to help the poor? Well, this bill accomplishes just the opposite. The wealthy and connected auto dealers will fare quite well. But poor drivers will be left to walk or ride bikes.

What will happen to the price of used cars when government guarantees up to $4500 in trade allowance per vehicle? If you say the price of used vehicles will increase, take a gold star.

Car dealers support the measure because it could bolster their sagging sales, leaving people who can afford only a clunker out in the cold. The cars they could once afford on the open market become unaffordable in a government subsidized trade market.

Environmentalists support Cash for Clunkers, too, on the premise that old smoky will be taken off the road. That’s debatable.

For more than 35 years automobiles have been equipped with pollution control systems. Leaded gasoline was banned and seasonal formulations were mandated, which is worth remembering when rising gas prices accompany the arrival of warm weather.

Since those mandates, according to Federal Highway Administration and EPA statistics, auto emissions have fallen significantly related to miles traveled. The only exception is nitrogen oxides. And according to a 1998 EPA study even those emissions dropped during their ten-year control period.

The world may not be pristine. But you aren’t likely to keel over when a 1985 Buick rolls past.

The most discouraging aspect for conservatives is the number of Republicans who voted for the bill. Fifty-nine allegedly free-market Republican lawmakers voted for Cash for Clunkers. They cast their lot with Nancy Pelosi and proved that many elected Republicans have no more intention of shrinking the size and power of government than do their Democrat counterparts. No Republican can claim to be a limited government, free-market conservative with their name attached to this bill.

The funding for the Cash for Clunkers trade-in allowances is said to come from the recent stimulus package. No it won’t; there’s no actual money in that stimulus package. It’s just a sack full of government IOUs, quite like Social Security and Medicare, both of which are hurtling toward insolvency.

We’re already awash in red ink. The national debt is approaching $11.5 trillion and some estimates claim government’s unfunded liabilities exceed $100 trillion. With GDP at $14 trillion per annum it would take more than seven years for the American economy to produce what Washington has promised to spend. And that’s if no further promises are made and every cent of economic production were applied to the liability.

Cash for Clunkers represents everything that’s wrong on Capitol Hill. It’s chock full of fiscal irresponsibility, power brokering, favoritism, vote-buying and contempt for our liberty, our Constitution and our intelligence.

The money for your trade is being stolen from your grandchildren. Each car purchased under this law should come with a tag that reads: “I’m spending my children’s inheritance . . . and their birthright.”