End Of Democracy - Cars for Clunkers

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. - Unknown

CARS.gov - Car Allowance Rebate System - Home - Formerly Referred to as “Cash for Clunkers&rdquo

This program clearly falls into the category above. People want "free" money from the government. Either they don't care that this is tax payer money or they don't understand this concept. Most likely they like it because they get something for "nothing".

The last I heard $3 Billion was allocated for the CARS program. The amount set for each vehicle is either $3500 or $4500. This means that this program can apply from 666,666 (based on $4500) to 857,142 (based on $3500) vehicles.

The current population estimate for the United States is 307 million people. This amounts to a cost of $9.77 for every person in the country. This means that for a person who gets this money, it is a return on investment of 46,059% on the amount that it costs them in taxes. The percentage of people who can participate in the program is from .22% to .28%, yes, not even 1% of of country. If you check the percentages based on the number of vehicles, it is about the same Based on a 2005 estimate, there is 247,421,120 vehicles in the United States The percentage of vehicles affected is from .27% to .35%.

This program serves to get people further into debt, but even worse than that is that the program basically steals from the poor and gives to the rich. Poor people can't afford to buy a new car, so they can not participate in this program. Part of the cause of the problems with the economy of this country is because of the amount of debt people are willing to have (file bankruptcy and get someone else to pay for your debt). This program also rewards those who have not tried to reduce their fuel consumption in the past. If you bought a more fuel efficient vehicle already, you get nothing.

There is no magic money machine, so all of this money comes from the tax payers. Worse than that is that we don't actually have the money to pay for this and the debt of this country is just going to get higher.

There is no requirement that the vehicles purchased were built in the United States. I do not mean that it should be limited to "domestic" manufacturers since many of the "domestic" vehicles are built outside the United States while many of the "imports" are actually made in the United States. Quite ironic that terms "domestic" and "import" are reversed.

All the happy sheeple just go along with programs like this. Mommy government will take care of all the sheeple. The Federal Health Care Plan is similar to this. The tax payers will have to pay for those who do not work and in the end, the problems of the country will get worse.

References:

Snopes: The Fall of the Athenian Republic

The Mythical Alexander Tyler and His Theory of Democracy

The Truth About Tytler

The End of Democracy in America

US & World Population Clock

Cars in the United States