It appears that "Cash for Clunkers" program was successful only to those who have no idea what the value of a dollar is these days. We heard from the Democratic Party "How successful a program Cash for Clunkers" was and how the environment benefited. That may or may not be the case. But, according to an article on CNN Money [article link] the program cost the American taxpayer $24,000 a "clunker." Edmunds, the most respected automotive authority on the web, stated relatively few cars were actually sold that weren't going to be sold anyway. 690K vehicles were sold under the program. But, in actual terms, 125K cars were sold that could have been considered "additional" under the Cash for Clunkers program.

People I have talked to who are in the automotive field say they agree with Edumunds. The government likes to use that 690K number as a shining example of a government program that actually works. But, in actual numbers, there were only 125K additional vehicles that were really sold. This is what Edumunds is talking about. And add to the fact it cost taxpayers $24K for each of that 125K that were sold in addition (outside the norm), how successful was it? A spokesman for the Department of Transportation stated, "It is unfortunate that Edmunds.com has had nothing but negative things to say about a wildly successful program that sold nearly 250,000 cars in its first four days alone," said Bill Adams, spokesman for the Department of Transportation. What he didn't say is what Edmunds did say...in a normal month, most of those 250K cars, this bureaucrat is crying about, would have been sold anyway. I'll say again, Democrats have never seen a tax dollar they didn't like...or want to spend.