Once again, our illustrious government waste precious time and energy ramping up a program to get taxpayers to dump old, inefficient products, and purchase new, with the promise of government rebates to help them out. Or, better yet, should I say taxpayers who actually pay taxes helping pay for new cars, or in this case, appliances, for people who decide they need them, or maybe just want new ones.
The problem with the "Cash for Clunkers" program was that it didn't really accomplish anything but waste lots of taxpayer money. It's funny, actually, to find that many of the vehicles taken off the streets and ostensibly crushed, were replaced with vehicles that didn't get much better gas mileage. Lots of Ford F-150 trucks were sold in numerous configurations, as well as Chevrolet Silverado's . In fact, according to Edmunds.com, these two trucks were in the top ten vehicles purchased, including 4 wheel drive versions!
Now we have the big appliance rebate program for purchasing Energy Star rated appliances. But, instead of starting the program January 1st in all states, the Federal Government let the individual states decide when to start the program on their own turf. Thus, the start dates are all over the map. Some start in January, some as late as April. Kansas already ran out of money in January, as they used the money to give to low income families to offset purchases of energy efficient appliances. In fact, they gave vouchers of $800 for clothes washers to low income families...no wonder they ran out of money. There are lots of energy efficient clothes washers that don't cost $800 bucks!
Frankly, these programs become a disincentive to many people. What if your appliance truly breaks down before the rebate period? You're out of luck. No rebate for you. However, you can have your appliance fixed if you wish, and keep it running just long enough to slide into the rebate window, then go for the new one. Whether that works for you or not depends on the rebate, which again, isn't a constant across all states. Which makes no sense.
Speaking of clothes washers only, some states base the rebate on the energy savings of the machine, with several categories available.
Arizona for example offers either $125 or $200.
Connecticut is $100
Delaware is $75
Georgia is $50 or $99
Illinois offers a 1 week 15% markdown at point of sale and a $50 recycling mail-in rebate
Maine is about the lowest, offering only $50
Michigan is also in that $50 category
Minnesota is offering $200
Texas offers $150 or $180 plus a $75 recycling rebate as well = $225 or $255
Oregon is using this to provide new residential heating systems to low income families
Rhode Island's site excludes clothes washers at this time; nothing about rebates for them.
Washington is $100
Plus, the other requirements for a rebate are somewhat asinine as well. For example:
Alaska: Only for Alaskans with disabilities. Further enhanced if in a rural area. WTF??
Here's the site so you can look for yourself.
http://www.energysavers.gov/financial/70022.html
Another fiasco where the people get little and some bureaucracy gets bigger and bigger building more and more government and in the name of a green earth. Not that a green earth is at all bad...but when you add in all the delivery trucks, crushers, energy and work to dismantle and reprocess all the junked appliances and waste materials, I'd bet the savings don't amount to much at all, except to those who get them for free or close to it.
Another idea for a give away program that just doesn't do much for the American struggling to make ends meet. If you can't put food on the table, you don't need a new range to cook it on, or a new refrigerator to keep it in. A few bucks a month in energy savings won't help you make the payments on the big appliance you just bought, will it?
More smoke and mirrors, brought to you by same the people who promised change. Next we'll hear about a "chicken in every pot"...oh wait...some say they heard that one before!
Those of you who wanted change sure got it...maybe it isn't the change you wished for?
3 comments:
Not only did Cash for Clunkers not help the econony, car dealers of the environment, it actually hurt taxpayers, auto repair shops and car donations.
Cash for clunkers did not help new car makers, dealers, the environment or the economy. Not only did it harm taxpayers and auto repair shops, it caused people to turn their car in for a voucher rather than donating cars to charity.
I'm not going to whine about cash for clunkers. What gets me is that was about the only noticeable stimulus for average Americans. Well, that and having my perfectly good streets repaved last year. Are we all just going to forget about Wall Street and how they brought this country to its knees then walked away with about a trillion in bail out? People are getting mad about health insurance reform (no, not healthCARE reform, health insurance reform), but laid down like sheep when Wall Street thugs ripped us in the biggest scam ever?
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