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Washington Is Screwing America's Working Poor
by James Glaser August 7, 2009 There really isn't a nice way to say it: Washington, the President, the Republicans, and the Democrats in Congress are screwing America's poor working people with the Cash for Clunkers program. You might think our politicians just don't know they are doing it, but I don't buy that. I believe that our politicians screw poor Americans because not only do they not think about them, they don't care about them either. There are many reports that percentage-wise, poor people don't vote. As far as our politicians are concerned, if you are in a group in America that doesn't vote, you don't exist. But back to the Cash for Clunkers program. You know and I know, poor people are not going to buy a new car even if you give them a free 4,500 dollars. Nobody is going to lend them the balance. So, what do poor people do for a car? Before this program, they bought those clunkers because that is what they could afford. Now Washington is taking thousands of those cheap used cars out of the market, and paying thousands of dollars more than they are worth, so you know everyone who can, will take advantage of this. Now to add insult to injury, the car dealers can't resell the cars they are taking in on this program. In fact, they have to disable the car by draining the oil, then pouring in a mostly water solution into the crankcase. They them run the engine until it totally breaks down, becoming completely inoperable and therefore useless. So Washington is making sure nobody can ever use the trade in cars again, and poor people won't be able to buy even a used engine to keep their clunker going a while longer. In the vernacular of the auto sales industry, here is the bottom line. Washington is buying up all the cheap used cars poor people usually buy, thus making any left on the market more expensive. (Supply and Demand) On top of that, they are disabling all the engines of the cars they are buying, which makes good running used engines more valuable, and maybe out of reach for the poor. America's working poor will have a harder time finding affordable transportation for the next few years because of what Washington has done. But Washington doesn't care, because they don't have the brains or the morality to look at the consequences of their actions before they do things. As an example, look at all the innocent people we have been killing in our wars. |
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