The $3 billion cash for clunkers program has been one of the most
popular parts of the Obama administration's assorted
(de)-stimulus efforts. Well, a new AP analysis shows
that, true to form, the program didn't exactly accomplish its
mission with flying colors.
Remember the so-called environmental benefits cash for clunkers
would produce by taking gas-guzzlers off the road? Looks like
many Americans turned in their cars for models that have
comparable or even worse fuel economy — for example, an old Ford
F150 pickup truck for a new one.
Given the program's goals, I would call that fraud.
The AP reports:
The single most common swap -- which occurred more than 8,200
times -- involved Ford F150 pickup owners who took advantage of
a government rebate to trade their old trucks for new Ford
F150s. They were 17 times more likely to buy a new F150 than,
say, a Toyota Prius.
The fuel economy for the new trucks ranged from 15 mpg to 17
mpg based on engine size and other factors, an improvement of
just 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the clunkers.
Owners of thousands more large, old Chevrolet and Dodge pickups
bought new Silverado and Ram trucks, also with only barely
improved mileage in the middle teens, according to AP's
analysis of sales of $15.2 billion worth of vehicles at nearly
19,000 car dealerships in every state. Those deals helped the
Ford F150 and Chevy Silverado -- along with Ford's Escape
midsize SUV -- climb into the Top 10 most-popular vehicles
purchased with the government rebates. The most common
truck-for-truck and truck-for-SUV deals totaled at least $911
million.
In scores of deals, the government reported spending a total of
$562,500 in rebates for new cars and trucks that got worse or
the same mileage as the trade-ins -- in apparent violation of
the program's requirements. The government said it is
investigating those reports and said in some cases they were
probably entered incorrectly by dealers or based on outdated
fuel economy figures.
Whew! I can sleep better at night knowing the feds are going to
devote more taxpayer dollars to covering up the trail — err, I
mean — investigating fraud and abuse.
Now, who's up for the federal government controlling our
health-care system?
