CASH FOR KLUNKERS? WHAT CASH?

Hopefully this is a dead issue so I'll not go into a lot of detail here. In a nutshell, the stimulus package included a measure enabling the government to dole out 2.2 billion dollars as enticement to trade in less fuel efficient vehicles. They passed it all out like candy in $3,500 or $4,500 increments. That's right, past tense, $2.2 BILLION of our tax dollars we haven't even printed or borrowed from China yet gone in one week! Now congress declares the program an overwhelming success and wants to throw another 2 billion at it. I'll skip the larger question, is another $4,500 added to the deficit financed over a generation in order to pick up 5 or 10mpg going to be worth it to our grandchildren? Instead I'll simply pose another question pertaining to a more immediate effect of this absurd piece of legislation.

I wonder how I would feel if only a few weeks ago I was a small town GM or Chrysler dealer forced by the Obama take-over of the US auto industry to close my doors and most likely file bankruptcy and send members my community home unemployed. How would it feel to see my former associates and competitors selling cars as part of this massive government spending scheme and why was I not allowed to participate? And now that I have been relegated to have to try to make a living by converting my once new car dealership into a second-chance-finance used car lot, how do I feel about the cars and trucks that might otherwise be my enventory being destroyed under this plan? I think I'd be pissed!

Who is running the show here and when are we going to stop the bleeding?