The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Let Them Burn Cars

Theodore Dalrymple, blogging over at the Salisbury Review, suggests the French have discovered a novel approach to aggregate demand management: the ritual burning of new and used automobiles. Automobile manufacturers, insurance companies, emergency workers—who doesn’t stand to benefit? Besides, as the good doctor observes, “unlike most forms of government stimulus,” setting other people’s cars aflame “is great fun.”

Of course, we in the United States are well ahead of the French (and Dr. Dalrymple’s British audience) in this regard: Remember Cash for Clunkers back in 2009? Unfortunately, that wasn’t as much fun as what the French have been up to. (Ah, well: I suppose automotive destruction, like wine, cinema, and philosophical novels, are done better in gay Paris.)

About the Author

Matthew Walther is the assistant editor of The American Spectator.

http://spectator.org/blog/2013/01/10/let-them-burn-cars

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Pope Culture

By George Sim Johnston

A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck

By P.J. O'Rourke

Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
Dames at Sea

By John Corry
In the Absence of Guns

By Mark Steyn

In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The Metaphysical Martini

By Werner J. Dannhauser
Counting the Costs of Clintonism

By Robert H. Bork

The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
Chuck McHagel

By George Neumayr

It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted

By Douglas Bartholomew
It’s the Best Time of the Year

By Mark Steyn

The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
The Bush Crack-Up

By Brit Hume

Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?