The more I know about the failings of our government, the less I want to know.
As many of you know, I sell cars for a living. The U.S. Government came up with a one billion dollar program to offer consumers up to $4,500 for their old vehicles which got a combined average of 18 MPG or less. They made the program as complicated as possible. They issued instructions of more than 150 pages! The program was to start on Friday, July 24. It started three days later. It was designed to remain in effect until November 1. (November 1 is a Sunday, when most dealers are closed.) Instead of being a 3 month program, it has been suspended after 4 days. After 9 hours, the official C.A.R.S website has made no mention of the program being suspended! As of 9 AM, the President says it is not suspended. National media says it is suspended. C'mon, guys, I'm supposed to be making a living, here! The C.A.R.S. website says that 77% of the funding is still available. This is after four days and it takes a minimum of three days for a dealer to process a claim! This means that the government really doesn't know how much money is available because there's a 3 day lag between a sale and a reported claim. Claims can only be made after the salvage yard issues documentation that they have received the clunker. Before this happens, each dealer must disable the vehicle's engine. We do this by draining the oil form the engine. We add Sodium Silicate Liquid Siliceous (liquid glass) to the crankcase, start the engine and wait for the liquid glass to heat, gel and finally cause the engine to stop. That engine will never run again.
The future of the program is in limbo. My questions are: Can anybody in D.C. plan a program that can really work? Can anybody in D.C make a promise and then keep it? Can registered voters remember this, at least until November?
