The curtain drops on the most stupendous and excellent economic stimulus plan, ever.

The Obama administration will end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives.

The Transportation Department said Thursday that the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the program has been ''a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work.'' He said the department was ''working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program.''

The White House has touted the program's success in providing a targeted boost to the sluggish economy since its inception in late July. Through Thursday, auto dealers have made deals worth $1.9 billion and the incentives have generated more than 457,000 vehicle sales.

So, if it’s been so wildly successful then why does it have to end?

But the administration needed to put a halt to the program to avoid surpassing the $3 billion funding level. Consumers were on pace to exhaust the program's coffers in early September and dealers have complained about long delays in getting reimbursed for the car incentives.

Since when has any administration of recent ilk ever been worried about busting the budget? Go back to Congress and just ask for more. It’s been done once before and do you think that Congress will turn down something that has been a “lifeline” to the auto industry and has been “putting people back to work”?

On a more serious note, yes, it is indeed time to pull the plug on this environmentally-dubious and economically-shaky program though this does not appear to be at all why the administration is doing so.

Though this does provide some temporary relief to workers who have been called back onto the job to cover the orders, what happens when the artificially-spiked demand curve caused by the 457,000 vehicles that have been sold under CfC drops off drastically over the next several years.

A more level demand curve of new car purchases over the next few years has been wiped-out to say nothing of the demand curve for the used-car market as a result of 457,000 cars, a goodly portion among them being perfectly serviceable, being eliminated entirely.

Good riddance, CfC, may we never see your kind again.