Bill Waddell describes the Cash for Clunkers program in less-than-glowing terms:
Buying America’s assets and scrapping them in order to spend money borrowed from our grandchildren to replace them will go down in the history books as one of the dumbest ideas ever, but so be it — the program is in place and running at a breakneck pace. So fast we are about to pour another $2 billion into it.
To me, it seemed like the kind of political expedient one might need to get a gasoline tax through Congress — but there’s no medicine to go with the sugar this time.
Waddell notices that the cars people are buying — and the cars they’re dumping — validate lean manufacturing:
The cars Americans are buying with the cash (in order):
Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Elantra, Honda Fit, Ford Escape, Dodge Caliber, and Chevy Cobalt.7 out of 10 from a car maker managed somewhere other than Detroit — and the Detroit winner, Ford, the leanest of the three and the one that did not need a bailout
The top 10 clunkers they are trading in to buy this array of non-GM/Non-Detroit products?
Ford Explorer 2WD and 4WD, Ford F-150 2WD and 4WD, Jeep Grand Cherokee 2WD & 4WD, Dodge Caravan, Chevy Blazer 4WD, Chevy Silverado 1500 2WD, and Ford Windstar.All from clunker ground zero — Detroit.