Yet another smashing idea

We’d like to file this one under the Dept. of Inevitability also, but the waiting line is just too long.

Whenever the government starts injecting itself too much into the marketplace, unintended consequences will result and much more often than not, it won't be good for you… or the environment.

Take Cash for Clunkers (please), for instance. Not only are dealerships being swamped by customers taking advantage of this government give-away, so too are landfills being swamped with perfectly good automobiles (the alleged clunkers) that are being destroyed.

Not all auto recyclers are relishing the government’s new cash for clunkers program, which requires car dealers to destroy the gas-guzzlers they get as trade-ins from new car buyers.

Used engines and drivetrains are a big part of recyclers’ income from each scrapped car, and under the federal program those engines must be destroyed. The idea is to promote fuel efficiency and help automakers, but it comes at a time when more than a dozen U.S. auto parts suppliers have filed for bankruptcy this year.

“Why throw away good parts when the supply chain is in jeopardy? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” said Michael Wilson, executive vice president of the Automotive Recyclers Association based in Manassas, Va.

Why, indeed? Engines and drivetrains account for 60 percent of a recycler’s revenue from a used car. Engines that will be filled with a sodium silicate solution and ran with that in it will be useless, as will many parts on that engine, in the secondary auto parts market.

And another unintended consequence is that Cash for Clunkers, in its righteous zeal to get all those gas guzzlers off the road, has shrunk the supply of perfectly serviceable used cars and thus raised the price of these same vehicles. Certainly good news for working families, wouldn’t you say?

Check out video below which does a nice job of summing up the non-sense of Cash for Clunkers.