The Republican from Illinois characterized CARS as “the single most successful short-term economic stimulus program in history.”
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood thanked auto dealers for their participation in the CARS program – aka Cash for Clunkers – in a speech before the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention today.
NADA had been critical of the red tape around what it thought was a needlessly complex program and the associated delays in reimbursement to dealers of rebates of up to $4,500 per Clunker trade-in.
LaHood said that as of this morning 565,690 CARS vouchers have been paid by taxpayers. This translates to almost $2.4 billion covering about 70% of dealers owed money.
LaHood said, “By now, it’s pretty clear that the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS program, succeeded beyond everyone’s expectations, and we can all take pride in what we’ve accomplished. Working together, we have delivered the goods to provide a struggling economy with a significant boost.”
To back that up LaHood made the following points:
- August retail sales up 2.7%
- August automobile dealer sales up 10.6%
- Sales boosted by about 440,000 vehicles between June and August
- One of the largest 2-month spikes in auto sales on record
- Increased production at Ford, GM, Toyota, and Honda
- 60% improvement in fuel economy
- $3.6 billion contributed to GDP for 2009
- Millions in local and state sales tax revenues to cash-strapped states
He went on to claim, “We’ve also shown that when the federal government and the private sector team up to take bold action, the American public reaps the rewards. That’s the kind of partnership I’d like to see more of.”
LaHood also said, that, the “CARS program has worked–it has worked for hard-working families, the local dealerships that serve them, and the domestic auto industry we all depend on.”
LaHood characterized CARS as “the single most successful short-term economic stimulus program in history.”
So as unemployment continues to rise to levels not seen since the Great Depression, what does Congress plan to do with the now expired clunkers program?
Nothing more…
Congree does NOT need to do anything more.
Bailout mentality must come to an end and let the economic recovery occur without further artificial stimulus measures.
If this was so successful, and it was, why don’t they fine tune it and make more or less permanent? As I understand it, that’s what they’ve done in Europe. It’s the rare win-win-win program that generates benefits all around at a very modest cost relative to lots of other things that produce a lot less. I can understand why Republicans hate it (it puts the lie to their theme that government can’t do anything right, something they set out to prove every time they’re in office) but the Democrats should be all about things like this.