Quote Originally Posted by Ascinder View Post
I'm all for reducing our carbon footprint too, but that isnt what this plan is doing. It does clearly state that these techniques have tried and failed even in smaller scale situations, meaning if you can't build a house don't try and build a skyscraper. If they wanted to make more eco friendly vehicles, why not put more money into research to develop better powerplants for existing vehicles. You can't just retire a fleet of several hundred million automobiles and not pay for environmentally one way or another. The energy it takes to crush and burn down that many vehicles is going to have a gigantic greenhouse effect. It seems like they're trying to throw a band aid on someone who has been decapitated. To me this looks like another ploy to get car sales back on track since after this bailout, Detroit is just going to go back to their old ways. The current problem isn't that people drive cars that aren't fuel efficient. It's that there is no supply of replacement vehicles that are that are that much better. Tell me what the incentive is for your average yuppie soccer mom type to ditch her giant wasteful SUV of choice for something that costs more, is smaller, and looks retarded(I'm sorry these hybrids and electric cars typically look kinda fruity). I'm telling you it isn't going to happen on environmental conscience alone.
There you go. You said it perfectly. Personally, I can't imagine ANYONE in their right mind would take a perfectly good vehicle that they own, like a VX, and turn it in to be crushed for $4500. I mean, maybe a 1995 Honda Civic that is rusted through and through, but not a solid vehicle that otherwise has no cosmetic or mechanical issues. I fully agree that the time and effort should be put into the development of replacment engines for existing cars, ESPECIALLY collector cars from the past and present. Like you said, what are we going to do with 500 million old gasoline engine cars? There will be an environmental consequence regardless of if they are crushed and burned, buried in a landfill or disassembled and recycled. This is a prime example of legislation that fails once again to look at the big picture. There is no simple solution to the global environmental crisis. Like you said, if the government wants to make legislation that really changes things, they need to outlaw the production of gasoline based engines in commuter vehicles and other vehicles that do not need the full power of gas engine. And if they want to start small, that's fine. Imagine what downtown Chicago or New York would smell like if ALL the buses and cabs were electric?

I agree that SOMETHING must be done going forward, but destroying perfectly good running vehicles for a tax break makes no sense unless the ONLY option is to "upgrade" to an environmentally friendly vehicle, not just a car that gets better gas mileage. It definitely sounds more like an "automobile industry stimulus plan" than a "save the planet" idea.

Bart