Puro...you're police in Dallas, right? I heard the story about the tickets for no habla English and just curious what the inside scoop is?

Well I don't actually work for the city of Dallas, but the scoop is that you can ticket someone for not being able to speak english IF they are driving a commercial vehicle. Some of the officers I guess didn't understand that it was for COMMERCIAL VEHICLES ONLY... They were tards and now they stirred up a sh*t storm. I'm glad I don't work for Dallas PD! lol

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And those stupid conservatives said C.A.R.S. wouldn't work :p

Cash for Clunkers cost $24,000 per car
Edmunds.com says only 125,000 vehicle sales were a result of the government's program.
Posted by Elizabeth Strott on Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:54 AM
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/market-dispatches.aspx?post=1341914&_blg=1,1341914

The U.S. government is calling its Cash for Clunkers program a big success, with nearly 690,000 vehicles sold in July and August. But a report by automotive Web site Edmunds.com says the program actually cost taxpayers $24,000 per car sold.

Only 125,000, or 18%, of the sales were incremental, according to Edmunds.com -- the remaining 82% of sales would have happened regardless of the program. The $24,000 is the price for the sales of vehicles that were a direct result of the program, Edmunds.com said.

The clunkers program gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less-fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel-economy requirements. The government set aside $3 billion for those rebates.

Edmunds.com looked at the sales trend for luxury vehicles and other models not included in program, and it applied the historic sales volumes of those vehicles and those in the program and estimated what the sales figures would have been without the program. The analysts then divided the $3 billion by their 125,000-vehicle number to get an average of $24,000 per vehicle.

The average transaction price for a new vehicle in August was only $26,915, minus an average cash rebate of $1,667.

"This analysis is valuable for two reasons," Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl said in a press release. "First, it can form the basis for a complete assessment of the program's impact and costs. Second -- and more important -- it can help us to understand the true state of auto sales and the economy. For example, October sales are up, but without Cash for Clunkers, sales would have been even better. This suggests that the industry's recovery is gaining momentum."

The government was not pleased with Edmunds.com's analysis.

"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," Bill Adams, spokesman for the Department of Transportation, told CNNMoney.com. "There can be no doubt that (the clunkers program) drummed up more business for car dealers at a time when they needed help the most."

The economy grew at a 3.5% pace in the third quarter, thanks to a jump in auto sales as a result of the clunkers program. Auto sales contributed 1.7 percentage points to the GDP, the government said in a report this morning.


I'm sure the libera.., err, "progressives" can still find a way to defend this gem.

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Happiness is: a belt fed weapon

I just wondered about how accurate the numbers are. I am NOT defending the program but given that they used historical sales figures to extropolate the data it seems the numbers would be skewed. What I mean is... you mentioned in your post the following...

Edmunds.com looked at the sales trend for luxury vehicles and other models not included in program, and it applied the historic sales volumes of those vehicles and those in the program and estimated what the sales figures would have been without the program. The analysts then divided the $3 billion by their 125,000-vehicle number to get an average of $24,000 per vehicle.

Given that the economy was / is in the tank and that people were NOT buying automobiles at least at the time of the report then using historical sales numbers and saying that they would have sold "this many" vehicles during that time is a real leap isn't it? That was the whole premise of the program was to stimulate the sales of vehicles.

I think the $24,000 per vehicle figure is a little high probably, but it is still TOO much considering the money that was also handed to the big car makers as well. That's a LOT of taxpayer money floating only one sector of the economy.

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laker1963:

Given that the economy was / is in the tank and that people were NOT buying automobiles at least at the time of the report then using historical sales numbers and saying that they would have sold "this many" vehicles during that time is a real leap isn't it? That was the whole premise of the program was to stimulate the sales of vehicles.

it may be a leap but it is a leap in a direction that isnt all that productive.

this program took cars that had some value and demolished it. they destroyed value. sure the car may have been run down and beat up, but there is some poor guy out there that can only afford a car for a few thousand (hundred).

to me, this is the same thing as burning wheat to get rid of surplus.

another wasteful, inefficient government program.

laker1963:

That's a LOT of taxpayer money floating only one sector of the economy.

too much money. the government should not be in the business of selling cars.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

$2.24 million per word

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

William Boyes, an economics professor at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, estimates that the government now owns or controls businesses that generate about one-third of U.S. economic activity. (the auto industry, the banking industry, student loans, etc...)

health care is currently 16% of GDP

so if the government takes over health care, the government will control/own about 46-49% of the GDP.




most of it was taken by force

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20091101/pl_politico/28999

Democratic pundit Bob Beckel has been under contract with Fox Newsfor six years. And in the midst of the White House war against thecable network, some of his liberal friends think that’s six years too many.

They invited him to lunch the other day for an intervention: Why is Beckel — a true-blue Democrat who worked for Robert F. Kennedy and ran Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign — giving comfort to the enemy?

Beckel’s response: “I talk to more persuadable voters in a month than anybody on MSNBC and CNN talks to in a year.”

In the eyes of some of their party brethren, Beckel and other Democratic strategists and pundits who appear regularly on Fox News are traitors to the cause. Or at least gluttons for punishment. And some of them feel that way, too.

“It sucks,” says Democratic direct-mail consultant Liz Chadderdon, a regular on the network. “It is very, very tough to be a Democrat on Fox.”

During an October 2007 hit on “The Factor,” Chadderdon referred to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay as “victims.” It was a verbal faux pas, and she knew it. But no sooner did she get off the air than she received a death threat — the first of a handful she says she’s received after appearing on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox show.

More recently, Chadderdon has been invited to talk business with Fox’s Neil Cavuto — on the main network and on the two-year-old Fox Business Network — even though she readily admits that she has no background in economics.

“Speaking about those issues is not my forte,” said Chadderdon. “And I’m getting the tar kicked out of me.”

So why does she keep doing it? For pretty much the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks. Fox is where the viewers are — No. 1 in the prime-time news ratings and drawing more than twice as many viewers on weeknights as either MSNBC or CNN.

“You know how I know nobody watches CNBC?” said Chadderdon. “I compared the pope to my 11th-grade algebra teacher, and nobody sent me a letter.”

Lanny Davis, former White House counsel for Bill Clinton, says some of his fellow Democrats privately encourage him to keep appearing on Fox — even as they boycott the network themselves.

“I get very positive but whispered reinforcement,” he said.

Davis made news during last year’s Democratic presidential primaries when he said that Fox was the fairest of the cable networks in its treatment of Hillary Clinton.

And now, he insists, the claims of bias directed at Fox are overstated, at least insofar as they come from devotees of one of its competitors.

“Is there a difference between Fox and MSNBC?” he asked. “You count the number of guests on Rachel [Maddow] and Keith [Olbermann] who are conservative Republicans. If you get to double digits, I’ll buy you dinner for each one.”

Susan Estrich is perhaps the most identifiable Democratic pundit on the network. She’s been on the payroll for more than a decade, having first gotten to know Fox News President Roger Ailes when they were working on opposite sides of the 1988 presidential campaign.

Estrich says they’ve become good friends and that when she’s had beefs about the network’s coverage, management has been receptive.

“If there is something I think is not right, I pick up the phone and I call,” she said. “What I have been hopefully able to do is offer my thoughts both inside and outside.”

Estrich encouraged Democratic pollster Doug Schoen to join Fox Nation at the end of the 2004 election. Weary of the unpredictability of other networks’ schedules, he was happy to sign on — and says he’s encouraged his Democratic friends to do the same.

“They are the most professional network of any I have dealt with,” he said. “If you are a Democrat who wants to deliver mindless talking points on Fox, it’s probably best to go to MSBNC and hope you get a chance to recite them. I think Fox encourages critical views of all sides, asks different kinds of questions and wants to have diversity of view.”

Beckel believes Fox viewers are more open to the Democratic side of the story than stereotypes might suggest. And indeed, a 2008 Pew Research survey found that while almost half of viewers who regularly watchFox News identify as Republican or Republican leaning, 39 percent tip Democratic and 12 percent have no stated angle at all.

Chadderdon is skeptical that her Fox hits do much to advance the progressive cause. But she says they’re good for business.

“The clients I have dealt with will say to me that they are impressed I have gone on [Sean] Hannity and O’Reilly,” she says.

Nevertheless, Chadderdon has been dialing it back in recent months, making polite excuses when bookers call to inquire about her availability. Plus, she has adopted a personal policy of not going on Hannity’s show after he was condescending to her on the air last summer.

“When the hit was over, I ripped off the microphone and started screaming at the producers,” Chadderdon recalls. “They ignored me and said, ‘Thanks for coming’ and hung up.” Fox News did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Peter Fenn knows what it’s like being the cable news version of Sisyphus — pushing the political boulder up the hill week after week. After regularly appearing on Fox for many years, Fenn says he started to pull away following the 2006 midterms. A few months prior to the elections, a “Hannity & Colmes” episode on which Fenn appeared alongside conservative pundit Ann Coulter was the mocked subject of a “Daily Show” feature called “Great Moments in Punditry as Read by Children.”

“After that, I thought this was getting ridiculous,” Fenn said. He continued to appear less frequently, until calling it quits after a show in May 2008 in which Michelle Obama’s patriotism was being served up for debate.

Beckel said he’ll persevere, even if it means taking blows from liberals who weren’t even born when he was fighting the good fight.

“There is a frustration when you are getting yelled at by people who weren’t even a gleam in their daddy’s eye when you were getting beat up by hard hats on Wall Street [while] protesting Vietnam,” he said.

He looks at the bright side.

“I get on Hannity every Monday night and say Obama is the greatest economic president since Franklin Roosevelt and watch Hannity’s jaw drop,” Beckel said. “And that is one of the great moments of my week.”

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Happiness is: a belt fed weapon

interesting read

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

Still just thinking about this healthcare crap and I have to ask if anyone can remember in history where the government has FORCED everyone to buy a service or good? This is the biggest violation of our right that I have seen in my life. I honestly don't understand how any freedom loving person can be for this Bill...

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Forced to buy Fire Dept, Police Dept, some hospitals----ect. If we have to pay for the service without question, we are forced.

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Never make a decision, by not making a decision.

Vulchor:

Forced to buy Fire Dept, Police Dept, some hospitals----ect. If we have to pay for the service without question, we are forced.

That is from taxes which the government takes from up for force. We don't have to seek out and purchase these things like we will under the health bill. WE do not purchase those, they are purchased with our money. However you do have a choice there too, you can choose to not work and not have a job and NOT pay taxes... Under the healthcare bill that does not matter, you STILL must have health insurance.

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For the best news and political commentary check out our new website. We have podcasts posted and new blogs from Nick and Jay on the way!

http://www.nationalrealitycheck.org/

You can also choose to live like Ted Kacizinsky and not get health care cause the got wont know you are around.

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Never make a decision, by not making a decision.

Yea, you have just proved my point. Never in history... The first line of the new health care Bill should read "Grab your ankles and get ready America!"

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For the best news and political commentary check out our new website. We have podcasts posted and new blogs from Nick and Jay on the way!

http://www.nationalrealitycheck.org/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/opinion/05kristof.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

I will agree with you Jason, I don't think a mandate is right, I do think that having a single payer system such as medicare for all or VA for all is the way to go. But the current climate of washington that just can't happen. Though America is already taking it in the A**, I know I am, well my wife is anyway since I try to use the VA whenever I can but I have to keep my insurance because she isn't a Veteran. And the only reason I am still working with my employer is because of them picking up most of the cost of Health coverage. I am actually limiting myself on making money from my own business since I have to work during the day but can't afford getting health insurance on my own. If it wasn't for my wife I wouldn't need to worry about it but she has asthma and needs to have coverage.

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