What really did this program do to clean up the environment tho? One car for another car? The lessened evironmental effects of going from one car to another car, regarding the number of cars traded, aren't even noticable. Most of the vehicles purchased are not going to do anything to improve or lessen the effects the crushed cars had on the environment. It perhaps shifts the type of pollution to be inflicted on the world but anything more than that is simply wishful thinking. Better fuel economy = drive more = same pollution. All I see that came from Cash for Clunkers is a bunch of people (tax payers) buying cars for other people. It was an automotive welfare program! As someone else said, it didn't do anything but make for a strong 3rd quarter and weak 4th quarter, it also increases the deficit and puts more strain on the rest of us who weren't looking to buy new cars. So really, yeah, even in this scenario, money IS everything!The rest is a smoke screen... ironic really, being that pollution was supposedly the reason behind it all...
Quote Originally Posted by Y33TREKker View Post
On second reading, I noticed that the natural gas vehicles you were most likely referring to were the 800+ highlighted in your original post?

It was my understanding that for vehicles to qualify, their mpg's had to be a certain amount worse than the vehicle they were being traded in for, so while there are obviously exceptions to every rule, the emissions technology on those older natural gas vehicles still must not have compared well enough to the emissions technology on the newer vehicles.

While money was obviously a big factor in the program (boosting the economy, helping the automotive industry, etc.), wasn't the overall intention for creating the program a means of helping to clean up the environment? As crazy as it sounds for a person to say it in this day and age, money ain't everything.