Monday, August 3, 2009

Bail me out.

WASHINGTON – The White House warned Monday that the "cash for clunkers" program, already zooming toward a quarter-million trade-ins with the initial $1 billion in rebates, could sputter to a stop by Friday unless the Senate quickly approves $2 billion more.
Apparently, what I was missing was that the "clunkers" are being sold as scrap, crushed and removed from civilization. May I suggest that we add Hummers, Yukon's and any vehicle larger than a swimming pool to the list? Bucks for Behemoths. Everything needs a catchy name to lure-in the general public.
Like so many other things, our government didn't properly read the public and found out quickly that people had old vehicles sitting in what we call "The Family Museum" out in the back yard - on two tires, rusted and apparently not worth more than the $4,500 that the Feds were going to give them. The program is running out of money. Go figure. Hurry up and get yours.
Meanwhile, I'm sitting here with a 2005 Ford Focus that I have maintained for the past 4 years, is in excellent condition, that will be paid for in February, and that the Kelley Blue Book people say has a trade-in value of $4,200. Sadly, the car gets about 31 miles per gallon and is a PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle) so my lot in life is that I'm stuck with it, at a loss of $300.
Where did I go so horribly wrong?

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