Cash for Clunkers?

This Letter to the Editor was in the Columbia, SC newspaper "The State" this week. This needs to be addressed to every one in Congress. You'll find it on the web at http://www.thestate.com/letters/story/891493.html or read it here.

• Destroying cars is waste of money
Our government is “acting stupidly” by destroying the engines of functional automobiles.
Consider a person who has a “clunker” that runs fine and who drives 7,500 miles a year getting 15 miles per gallon, a monthly fuel cost of $100, and has minimal liability-only insurance. If that person takes advantage of this government giveaway, the result could well be a $25,000 auto loan on a car costing $29,500, the $4,500 down payment being covered by the “clunker” rebate. The new car gets 25 miles per gallon, so fuel cost is now $60 a month — a negligible savings of $40. However, a 48-month auto loan at 4 percent for the $25,000 will cost $525 per month, and insurance will increase dramatically. So this person’s transportation cost has suddenly increased from less than $100 per month to more than $600.
The program might have made a little bit of sense if it were restricted to persons required to drive high-mileage vehicles and if the “clunkers” were diverted to low-mileage use such as simply getting back and forth to a job each day. But to intentionally destroy a functioning, affordable automobile is stupid when tens of thousands of low-income people have trouble getting or keeping jobs because of lack of affordable transportation.
DARRYL K WILLIAMS
Columbia