Given the gas-guzzling nature of the cars one may trade in under the program, I'm hard pressed to consider this "scrapping thousands of decent used cars."

We're scrapping thousands of SUVs, which means we're making the roads safer, our skies cleaner, and our nation more secure. There are cars in the mix, too, but really - 18 mpg? That *is* a clunker.

That said, I agree with the author. This should be a purchase made with full deliberation, sweetened by the program - not made because of the program.

no one seemed to mind when they did it to a bunch of electric vehicles. many of the cars through this new program need to be off the roads (Unlike the electric ones)

In terms of making our skies cleaner, not so much.

An AP story yesterday estimated that the cumulative effect of the Cash for Clunkers program on CO2 emissions is about the same as Americans reducing their average driving by one hour per YEAR.

Not following how this is making our nation more secure. Anyway, they are still making SUV's, so for every one traded in with this program if those people turned around and bought one with say a rating of 21 instead of 18, not much will change on our roads. People who have the SUV type vehicles do not tend to downsize. We have a Saturn that gets 34 mpg, but we also have a truck that my husband needs for work, and to haul our boat, we have a GMC truck that gets 21 mpg.

How does scrapping an SUV make our "nation more secure?"

I read something on the James Hong blog that went something like this: as we climb out of this recession, China is going to return to a higher rate of growth. That means fuel prices will rise, and it will be driven by China, not the US. This will feel, to us, like gas prices are too high. (To Chinese, it won't feel so bad, because their incomes will be rising faster than ours, due to growth.)

So, destroying some SUVs may turn out to be a good decision, because it'll free up money for something besides fuel. Foreign growth will hurt less.

The whole issue of carbon emissions is just a way to tap into some "end of the world" sentiment. While I share the sentiment, driving a more efficient car isn't going to fix anything. We need to explore more radical ideas like commuting by bus or train, bicycle, or working only 4 days a week.

I see most of the benefits of this subsidy being the immediate jolt to the economy, to slow the growing unemployment. Secondarily, it might help our economy in the future, because it reduces our fuel expenses.

The cash for clunkers will bring about a slew of unintended consequences. Unintended but not unforseeable if you spent more than 10 minutes thinking and analyzing. I thought Obama and his administrators (please include the czars and congress) were/are supposed to be smart. Excuse me?

1. The program is artificially producing car sales but these sales are robbing future sales. Owners of clunkers were going to buy newer cars but down the road.

2. This program is adding additional burdens to the lower income groups. Working older cars (clunkers) are purchased by students and those not able to afford newer. Price of used cars just moved up.

3. Scrappers - those who make a living removing and selling parts from scraped cars will have less cars and less income.

4. Mechanics - less clunkers mean less work.

As with any 'free money' it comes with a cost. Buyers are less likely to get deals on new cars because of the artificial rush created by the program. Final new car prices will be higher as a result. (Basic economics which few understand.)

Money for the program has to come from somewhere. Borrowed from your kids' and grandkids futures. But who cares?

Economic benefits will be small and shortlived. Environmental benefit = probably nil after everything said and done. You probably don't realize this but you can use your clunker benefit towards a HUMMER!

Corruption and waste will be epidemic - as always with government programs. Right now, there are reports of car dealers selling the clunkers out the back door. Many car dealers backdated sales in the beginning to award the benefit to buyers.

Tell me I'm wrong.

An added perspective from the owner of a 92 Honda Accord that will in all likelihood last another 10 years:

Most of the people turning in vehicles under this program are buying vehicles that get improved mpg by about 10 mpgs.

From my perspective, this is adding a nice pulse of newer, higher-mpg cars into the sales stream that will be sold as used cars in 5 to 10 years, just in time for my next car purchase!

I do agree that it's wasteful to pour "liquid glass" into an engine to disable it; they should be melted down and recycled, not turned into unusable contaminated scrap. By draining the oil out of the vehicle and then running it for 10 minutes they would just as effectively disable the engine, but allow it to be melted down and recycled that way.

do not expect perfection in human affairs, they will always be ludicrous on some level even if and when on other levels they be inspired

My clunker doesn't qualify. It was passed down to my wife & I by her dad... and he was smart enough to not get a car bigger than he needed.

I just bike all journeys with less than 50 pounds of cargo shorter than 5 miles. I worked it out and I can pretty much own any car but a Hummer and still burn less gas than I would were I to be driving a Prius on all of those trips.

The weight loss and sexy muscles aren't bad either.

When you are finally ready to give up your clunker, please consider donating it to charity. You'll get a tax deduction and the charity will get the proceeds from its sale.