I tried to recycle an old chest freezer today. It doesn't work and we wanted to get rid of it. Sadly, leaving things in the back yard to return to the earth has gone out of vogue. She Who Must Be Obeyed came across a website that promised to take old refrigerators and freezers and recycle them for you. They would pick them up and give you $50 to boot! One little thing in the requirements was bothersome to me. The appliance had to be in running condition. I thought that it must be a misprint. No one is so stupid as to trade in a perfectly good appliance for one that is going to cost them more. I called and it wasn't a typo. Only bureaucrats can envision programs like this. Only a person who isn't in the habit of paying much in taxes would come up with a scheme that takes money out of someone's pocket and put it in the pocket of another. The "Cash for Clunkers" program was a stupid piece of legislation if ever there was one.
"On August 26 the DoT reported that the program resulted in 690,114
dealer transactions submitted requesting a total of $2.877 billion in
rebates.[1][11] At the end of the program Toyota accounted for 19.4 % of sales, followed by General Motors with 17.6 %, Ford with 14.4 %, Honda with 13.0 %, and Nissan with 8.7%.[1][12]
It led to a gain in market share for Japanese and Korean manufacturers
at the expense of American car makers, with only Ford not taking a
significant hit.[13] Meanwhile, Japan's own program excluded U.S. cars.[14] The Department of Transportation also reported that the average fuel efficiency
of trade-ins was 15.8 mpg (miles per gallon), compared to 24.9 mpg for
the new cars purchased to replace them, translating to a 58% fuel
efficiency improvement.[1]
A study published after the program by researchers at the University of Delaware
concluded that for each vehicle trade, the program had a net cost of
approximately $2,000, with total costs outweighing all benefits by $1.4
billion.[15][16] Another study by researchers at the University of Michigan
found that the program improved the average fuel economy of all
vehicles purchased by 0.6 mpg in July 2009 and by 0.7 mpg in August
2009.[17] " - from Wikipedia Car Allowance Rebate System.
Why am I quoting an article about Cash for Clunkers? It's just my joyful little way of pointing out that government programs that benefit Corporations are probably not a good deal for people in general.
I have a feeling that two parties were hurt in this "Cash for Ice-Cubes" scheme. The taxpayer was obviously hurt, and the sap who thought they were getting a great deal spent money they probably hadn't planned on spending, and didn't need to spend. Who benefited? Well, all those legislators and bureaucrats who feel bad about drawing a check for doing nothing got to feel good about doing something - anything, and manufacturers got to sell more crap people didn't really need. Whenever business and government get together on something, put your hand over your wallet right fast!
If we hadn't been moving, that freezer might have been re-purposed as a cold smoker. Now I have to find a place to bring it for disposal/recycling.
"On August 26 the DoT reported that the program resulted in 690,114
dealer transactions submitted requesting a total of $2.877 billion in
rebates.[1][11] At the end of the program Toyota accounted for 19.4 % of sales, followed by General Motors with 17.6 %, Ford with 14.4 %, Honda with 13.0 %, and Nissan with 8.7%.[1][12]
It led to a gain in market share for Japanese and Korean manufacturers
at the expense of American car makers, with only Ford not taking a
significant hit.[13] Meanwhile, Japan's own program excluded U.S. cars.[14] The Department of Transportation also reported that the average fuel efficiency
of trade-ins was 15.8 mpg (miles per gallon), compared to 24.9 mpg for
the new cars purchased to replace them, translating to a 58% fuel
efficiency improvement.[1]
A study published after the program by researchers at the University of Delaware
concluded that for each vehicle trade, the program had a net cost of
approximately $2,000, with total costs outweighing all benefits by $1.4
billion.[15][16] Another study by researchers at the University of Michigan
found that the program improved the average fuel economy of all
vehicles purchased by 0.6 mpg in July 2009 and by 0.7 mpg in August
2009.[17] " - from Wikipedia Car Allowance Rebate System.
Why am I quoting an article about Cash for Clunkers? It's just my joyful little way of pointing out that government programs that benefit Corporations are probably not a good deal for people in general.
I have a feeling that two parties were hurt in this "Cash for Ice-Cubes" scheme. The taxpayer was obviously hurt, and the sap who thought they were getting a great deal spent money they probably hadn't planned on spending, and didn't need to spend. Who benefited? Well, all those legislators and bureaucrats who feel bad about drawing a check for doing nothing got to feel good about doing something - anything, and manufacturers got to sell more crap people didn't really need. Whenever business and government get together on something, put your hand over your wallet right fast!
If we hadn't been moving, that freezer might have been re-purposed as a cold smoker. Now I have to find a place to bring it for disposal/recycling.
