Cash For Clunkers Program Maxed Out

[jake75]

Tonight's news said that the Govt thinks that the entire $1 bil appropriated for this program may have been exhausted in less than 1 week. They are shutting down applications until they can catch up with the applications to be sure. There could be buyers who thought they were approved but now are in limbo. My prediction is that Congress will appropriate some additional money to make sure that those submitted before the govt. shut down the program are honored. Otherwise these people might get ticked off at their Congressmen and not vote for them in the next election.We now know what good economists the government has - they apparently could have offered less generous allowances and got the result they wanted in terms of stimulating car sales and getting gas hogs off the roads.

[KNINE]

Big Fed couldn't even get this right, and we're supposed to believe they can manage public health care. No wonder we're trillions of dollars in debt.

[jake75]

Govt. to patient: "Sorry, we've run out of allocated heart bypasses."

[jimincalif]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »Govt. to patient: "Sorry, we've run out of allocated heart bypasses."Exactamundo!

[kostby]

A billion bucks doesn't buy nearly as many clunkers as it used to! Especially with these greatly-inflated incentives/bribes.'Crusher Motors' could purchase a maximum of 222,222 clunkers at $4,500 each, and 285,714 clunkers at $3,500 each.Of course, had the brilliant economists inside the Beltway offered just $2,000 per vehicle -- much closer to the actual vehicle trade-in value, and probably STILL enough to encourage many people to trade them in -- the government could get 500,000 clunkers off the road!

[jake75]

This will probably get my membership revoked - (removed) (pun intended) here goes. Don;t know if the amazing pics will come through - email me if you want to see.5 Amazing Holes! These holes are not only amazing, but some are really terrifying! The sheer scale of these holes reminds you of just how tiny we are. Kimberley Big Hole - South Africa Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds Before being closed Glory Hole - Monticello Dam, California A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir. It is the largest spillway of this type in the world. It consumes 14,400 cubic feet of water every second. Great Blue Hole , Belize This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize . There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one. Sinkhole in Guatemala These photos are of a sinkhole that occurred early this year in Guatemala . The hole swallowed 2 dozen homes and killed at least 3 people. RAT HOLE in Washington D.C. [pic of US Capitol] It is capable of swallowing trillions and trillions of U.S. Dollars-annually! The money that falls into this hole is never heard from again! It is reputed to be filled with at least 535 (removed) 'holes'.

[KNINE]

I've received that email before. Funny stuff.

[ramenboy...]

hahahahahah'ok, so cash for clunkers is like social security in fast forward...'

[jake75]

AP 7-31-09 "Light Up the grill Andy!"After hours of confusion about whether the Cash for Clunkers program had run out of money,it was game on again Friday for car dealers, TV stations and newspapers, who had worriedthat one of the few bright spots for their industries would end after just one week.Dealers around the country pondered Friday whether to pull ads for the program, which wassupposed to have run until November or until the $1 billion initially set aside ran out. Thedeal -- which gives up to $4,500 for trade-ins if they meet certain conditions -- saw so manysales in its first week that the funds were already dwindling.But the U.S. House moved to approve an additional $2 billion for the program later Friday.While that scenario played out, there was confusion around the country for shoppers, dealersand advertisers.In Victor, N.Y., Kitty Van Bortel said she was caught in limbo about whether to pull the plugon rebates at the Ford and Subaru dealerships she owns."Honestly, in all my years in the car business, I have never seen such a mess. It's justunbelievable," she said Friday morning, saying she was locked into her advertising for theweekend, no matter the outcome.The auto industry is the nation's biggest advertiser, though it trimmed its first-quarter spendingby 28 percent to $2.31 billion from $3.22 billion in the same period last year, according toTNS Media Intelligence..Dealers cut ad spending far more than manufacturers, dropping ad purchases 49 percent to$643.9 million in the first quarter. Manufacturers trimmed spending by 15.2 percent to $1.67billion, from $1.96 billion.Dealers have been hit particularly hard by the auto industry woes, with manufacturers likeChrysler and GM announcing plans to close thousands of dealerships as they look to cut costsand deal with slumping demand.The Darrow Auto Group was anxious Friday to see if the clunker program would continue.The program has already helped sales at its 20 dealers, said Mike Darrow, executive vicepresident of the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based company.Starting last Friday, the company had already spent $40,000 on two weeks worth of televisionand radio advertising for the program, which he said was more than what it would spend for atypical promotion because of all the exposure the deal had been getting.Now with more federal funding likely, it's possible the marketing will increase to keep fuelingdemand, Darrow said, though he cautioned it may taper off if inventory can't keep up."The main thing is we're going to keep it going," he said. "We're going to have to see howthe month and the week finishes here. I think Monday morning we're going to have to look atour inventory levels, and see if we need to beef it up."The increases in advertising are welcome news for the advertising industry, where overallspending has been falling as companies react to cutbacks in consumer spending and limit theirown advertising. Newspapers, television and radio stations and other outlets have seen theirprofits tumble.The clunkers program won't save the auto industry but it will help sales during what istypically a slow selling time, said Peter DeLorenzo, publisher of autoextremist.com, whoformerly worked in marketing and advertising for the auto industry. He said it's likely thatdealers who had been holding back on advertising for the program will do so now."I think the savvy dealers who were already on top of it will just keep going," he said."Maybe the dealers who were on the fence and see how this goes will jump in now. But let'ssee how quickly this next $2 billion goes."Dealers are prepared to keep pushing.Why? Customers know their never pay the list price anyway, so there is always a hiddendiscount, but this was a real number they could focus on, said Al Ries, chairman of Ries &Ries, an Atlanta-based marketing strategy firm. That brings them in the door."What opportunity do you ever have to save something like $4,000 or $5,000? That doesn'thappen very often," he said.That's what happened to Emily Cutson, a 29-year-old unemployed graduate in student inDenver. She'd been hoping to replace her 1991 Infiniti in the next year, but heard about theclunker program and decided to get to a dealer before money ran out.On Wednesday night she traded in her car, which got 16 miles per gallon, for a Honda Civicwith 27 miles per gallon. She got $4,500 off the price, paying $17,000."I hadn't been looking because I knew I couldn't afford it, and I was going to try to ride outmy car as long as possible," she said.Associated Press Writers Ben Dobbin in Rochester, N.Y., Kevin O'Hanlon in Lincoln, Neb.and Ben Greene in Glen Burnie, Md. contributed to this report.

[joatmon]

my cash for clunkers deal was to spend not much cash for a 96 ford ranger. Been keeping busy catching it up on maintenance, and a few repairs. Obviously a different purpose vehicle than a Vibe, and the truck can really pull, but it sure makes the Vibe feel zippy again. What gets me is I keep moving to shift into neutral at traffic lights. It's been over six years since I drove an auto tranny any non-trivvial distance. It's weird. Vibes seem to use mostly 10 and 12mm, the random 14. the Ford is some 10, but a lot of 8 and 13mm. The truck is a lot quieter ride inside than the Vibe but I blame that on the Vibe tires that need replacing.yeah, I know, off topic