Can't run Cash for Clunkers? Here, take health care.

Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak is upset because the government's much talked about Cash for Clunkers program has failed the pay the auto dealers the cash it promised for the clunkers. It seems that the geniuses down in Washington (Sestak included) passed the Cash for Clunkers scheme without having the slightest idea of how to run it efficiently.

Among other things they grossly underestimated the speed with which people and auto dealers would grab onto the cash; and they failed to think through the effect on auto dealer finances; and they set up a bureaucracy that has proven to be a total clunker at administering the program.

You can find Congressman Sestak's letter complaining to President Obama about the program here:
http://blogs.mcall.com/penn_ave/2009/08/sestak-to-feds-fix-clunkers-program-red-tape.html

It's kind of rich that Congressman Sestak is complaining about the inefficiency of a program that he himself voted for. But I guess that's the kind of things you do when you're a congressman; you vote for unworkable and inefficient programs and then you blame someone else for then.

I have a question for Congressman Sestak. If this president and this congress and the rest of the federal government can't efficiently set up and manage a very simple little $3 Billion program like Cash for Clunkers, what possible logic can there be in thinking that they can run a very, very complex $2.5 Trillion industry like health care?

Nirvana

I'm happy to see that the Congresscritters are addressing the the nation's most pressing needs with this new stimulus package. Hopefully, The Villages will get in on some of the boodle to replace its rental fleet of gasoline powered golf carts. I've found that the annoying noise of a gasoline golf cart engine makes it hard for me to maintain a perfect sense of driving around in a dream when I'm down there.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02112009/news/politics/congress_hopping_carts_154496.htm

Maybe The One is as good a pilot as this guy

If Barack Obama is elected on tuesday the country will be flying with one wing, the left wing. The congress is already firmly in the hands of the left, and it will be more so after the election. The courts are arguably middle of the road; but within a couple of years of Obama making appointments they will be firmly in the hands of the left as well. And, of course, with Barack in the White House there will be no counterbalance for the loony ideas that congress will pass and the courts will approve.

So the country will be flying on one wing.

We can only hope that The One is as good a pilot as this fellow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY6LjeAEPJk

Global warming and energy independence - Solved!

I read a lot of stuff written by liberals proposing all manner of complicated schemes to cut use of fossil fuels and force energy efficiency. And I read all kinds of things by conservatives about how they want the US to become independent of foreign oil. But I never hear anyone with the guts to propose the only simple way to achieve both of those ends - tax all fossil fuels heavily; but start the tax slowly and raise it steadily and predictably so people and businesses can adapt in the natural course of things. Finally, give the proceeds back to the country's whole population as an equal payment to each citizen and legal resident. That way the cost would fall primarily on heavy users of fossil fuels, and lesser users would actually end up ahead.

If something like that had been started in the 1970's we would already be a lot less dependent on fossil fuels.

This is the perfect time to enact such a plan because prices of all forms of fossil fuels are falling, and people and industry are already somewhat accustomed to the pain of higher prices. Congress should pass a tax starting at say three cents per gallon of gasoline and fuel oil (and an equivalent amount on coal and natural gas by energy content). Congress should also mandate that the tax will increase by three cents per month indefinitely - ideally it would be set up to increase automatically unless congress votes to stop it by a significant supermajority, so that it would be very hard to stop. That way everyone would have a clearly defined incentive to buy cars and homes based on energy efficiency, and industry would have clear expectations as to future costs of energy from fossil fuel sources. People developing alternative sources of energy would also have clear expectations of the energy markets in which they will compete.

Such a tax would also leave it to the free market to decide on the details of energy efficiency and alternative energy issues - by far the most efficient way to decide among those things. Some will argue that a time of recession is not the time to start such a plan, but I'd fire back that putting some reasonable expectations around the issue of global warming and energy independence and defanging the threat of truly disastrous types of government intervention (like cap and trade which will certainly turn into a huge political honeypot) would itself have a major stimulative effect on the economy.

Being a humble person I decline the honor should someone want to name this The Sully Plan.