What is the Truth About Sales in the Cash for Clunkers Program?
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It seems the talk show ideologue twisted the facts to suit his personal animosities without the slightest regard for the truth or the nation's interest.
Prominent radio talk show hosts were chortling the other day about their claims that foreign cars were dominating sales in the so-called "Cash for Clunkers" program.
Six of ten sales were of Honda, Nissan and Toyota, the big talker said, commenting gleefully that Obama's plan to boost U.S. automakers was a failure.
Then, today, we came across a headline on the INTERNET:
>"U.S major automakers Sell 47% of Cash for Clunkers Sales."
A Chinese news agency cited U.S. government reports that the three major U.S. automakers accounted for 47 percent of the first 80,500 "Cash for Clunkers" sales.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Ford Focus is the top-selling vehicle in the program. Four of the top 10-selling vehicles are manufactured by Detroit's Big Three, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
It seems the talk show ideologue twisted the facts to suit his personal animosities without the slightest regard for the truth or the nation's interest.
Growing the economy cooperatively is made much more difficult for us all in such a poisonous atmosphere.
Apparently we have become so viciously political that common sense has flown out the window. We have met the enemy and he is us, to quote the well-know sage, Pogo.
The Senate is expected to vote yet this week on a House approved $2 billion-dollar increase of the Cash for Clunkers" program.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican Member of Congress, said the program has been a "lifeline to the economy."
Gibbs said the program has been a "big benefit to domestic automakers and the $2 billion-dollar appropriation should allow the program to continue through September.
Thus far, 83 percent of trade-ins under the program are trucks, and 60 percent of new vehicle purchases are cars.
General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC sales account for 47 percent in the program, which is above their overall share in the auto market of about 45 percent of the three Detroit companies.
The U.S. Government legislation provides vouchers valued from $3,500 dollar to $4,500 dollars when buyers trade-in a vehicle and purchase a new one with at least 10 miles per gallon better mileage.
So far, the program has generated an overall 61 percent increase in fuel economy by virtue of the improved mileage of the replacement vehicles, according to the White House.
The average fuel economy of new vehicles purchased under the program is 25.4 mpg, while the average EPA rating for the discarded vehicles is 15.8 mpg, making for a 9.6-mpg increase.
The White House said consumers who have purchased cars under the program will save $700 to $1,000 in gas every year, and noted that Cash for Clunkers is putting safer cars on the road and dramatically reducing air pollution.
Why would talk show hosts want to trash a program that boosts the American economy, saves money for drivers and puts safer, less polluting cars on the road? That attitude seems almost, gosh, un-American, doesn't it?
Politics is politics, but the economy is vital to all of us, even radio stations and talk show hosts, isn't it?
I would think any radio station sponsoring such a talk show host, and attempting to survive via advertising -- some of which certainly comes from automakers -- would rethink its programming.
Especially significant is the fact that the tri-county area of Bay-Saginaw-Midland has been built mainly on the automotive industry.
It would seem incongruous if the radio blathermouths attacked, say, the chemical industry or perhaps the sugar growers and processors. Both of those industries are also vital to the jobs and economic lifeblood of working families in this area.
In view of this revolting situation, I have decided not to listen to negative talk shows, or to open negative e-mails from people who seem determined to sink the U.S. economy to gain a political advantage.
In fact, I may even place a call to that radio station that promotes anti-American economic ideas, if I could only remember which one it was.
Noted financier Warren Buffet was interviewed recently and asked about the negative trend in media and personal interaction. "It's not helpful," he said simply. "Why buy into anything that's not helpful?"
That policy seems to be eminently reasonable. Very unlike the big mouthed self promoters who are trying to sink the economy. Why don't we just turn them all off? ###
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Geraldine42 Says:
On August 06, 2009
at 10:50 AM
Agree! I used to listen to them because I thought they were funny. Sometime during the last election, I decided that what I thought were jokes, the talk show hosts really meant, and listeners were taking them seriously. If you pay attention to them it's like encouraging "road rage".
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