Well What Do You Know About That?

How often do we get to talk about a government program that works? Now that you've thought about that, how often to we get to talk about a government program that works so well it almost breaks down? Now comes the analogies. Like the engines of the clunkers being traded, the government program CARS was barely able to maintain the pace at which people bought new cars over the last few weeks. Dealers were selling so many cars that they began to think about not permitting the deals because they had too much paperwork to do. To quote the Boston Globe, ""A borderline train wreck," said Charlie Swenson, general manager at WalserToyota in Bloomington, Minn. In Glen Burnie, Md., Bob Bell, who owns Ford, Kia and Hyundai dealerships, said his employees were overwhelmed filing for reimbursement from the government's clunky system."

The government did not expect people to want to buy new cars in the numbers that people wanted to buy new cars. The government even did something right by having dealers send in their forms online, not only does this lessen the strain on the postal service, it speeds up the process for the dealers. But the tech guy at the White House was on lunch when the plans for the website were being discussed. Nobody bothered to mention that if a single site gets enough hits during a period of time it will slow down or even crash. So many dealers across the country were trying to process rebate applications that the rebate site took hours to upload the necessary documents for the applications.

Good news. People are buying cars, this gives a vital boost to an industry that was starting to, pardon the pun, run out of gas. Good news. People are buying cars that are more fuel efficient than the cars they had before which means less oil dependence and less environmental impact. Good news. The government was able to give out some of the stimulus money quickly and efficiently (mostly). Lesson? Instead of trying to find ways to spend 787 billion dollars in projects that won't get out of planning for another couple of years, perhaps the government could spend 10 billion stimulating the auto industry, the renewable energy industry, rebuild a few major highways which always need repairs, and inject some cash into some scientific research or artistic projects.

I know that in today's economies of scale 10 billion dollars doesn't sound like a lot of money, but the economy doesn't need to be completely rebuilt, it just needs a jump (yes another car pun). One thing I like the most about the Cash For Clunkers program is that it doesn't have a buy American clause in it or a buy GM clause, it just says buy a car with better gas mileage. Some commenattors have said that any stimulus for the industry unfairly props up the industry and I think that those people should shut up because they drove to work that morning. A relatively small injection of cash has gotten the economy flowing, even if temporarily. What I think is most important about this turn of sales events (too much?) is that it gives people a reminder that government spending isn't always bad and it gives the government a reminder that sometimes giving people money for something specific is better than any of the other spending they've been doing under the stimulus project.