I'm fairly certain that this is part of a well thought out scheme. Too many things are being blamed as "unforeseen" or "unintended consequences." What if some of these consequences HAVE been foreseen and intended, and certain actors have been playing this like a game of chess, looking 3 or 4 moves ahead.
They purposely exclude the oldest vehicles from the program, knowing that the vehicles they're destroying would probably have been the next step up vehicles for those at the low end of the income spectrum. This makes it less and less likely that the poor will be able to have their own vehicles in the future. It also (as you stated) will drive the cost of used cars up, and make maintenance more difficult and expensive for those who have cars in that age range.
I believe that this is a concerted effort by "environmentalists" to try to reduce urban sprawl - without cars, people will be forced to move into heavily urbanized cities. And without the ability to travel at will, they (the authoritarians who have taken up the mantle of "environmentalists") will finally have complete control over the majority of the city dwellers.
One of the things that has really set American people apart from the rest of the world is that we've had a level of personal freedom that is really unknown anywhere else... We've been able to just pick up and move somewhere else, jumping in the car and taking a ride. Have you seen what happens to a senior citizen when it becomes obvious that they're no longer capable of driving safely, and they have to stop driving? They go into a deep depression. Even worse is if you have to take their keys away from them, because they refuse to give them up on their own, but you know they're a danger to themselves and others on the roads (we just had to do that with an 85 year old aunt - she was in a minor accident and got a ticket for driving on the wrong side of the road on the same day!). Having your own vehicle brings one a level of independence and freedom that we haven't given much thought to. And the people in many other countries have emulated us in this respect. But I don't believe that any other country has a "car culture" that's so heavily integrated into their national psyche. And those who wish to control us know that the first step on total domination of the population is to take away our cars, and force us to live where they want, in order to use "public transportation."
Mark
This was a very well thought out, but worrisome, comment.
They purposely exclude the oldest vehicles from the program, knowing that the vehicles they’re destroying would probably have been the next step up vehicles for those at the low end of the income spectrum. This makes it less and less likely that the poor will be able to have their own vehicles in the future. It also (as you stated) will drive the cost of used cars up, and make maintenance more difficult and expensive for those who have cars in that age range.
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I heard a caller from France on talk radio who said that Americans have it wrong. They think that people overseas are all about the environment when, in fact, if they can afford a car the only car they can afford are the tiny ones. It’s not that they like them; it’s that they’ve been boxed into a corner.
The program could easily destroy 2 or 3 million cars a year if it became permanent. In a decade, that would be 20 or 30 million older cars taken off the road. I think this would be a very noticeable change in car “demographics”. There’d be fewer older sub-$4500 cars and more smaller, newer cars. Just like Europe!
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the lefty groups have thought this through with particular social ends clearly in mind. It’s ironic and unfortunate how nicely the left’s social engineering tendency fits with the corporate world’s anti-competitive tendency and willingness to snuggle up with the government if it decreases their risk. The clunker program has the trifecta of pleasing leftist social activists, opportunistic politicians, and the auto companies, and is therefore very likely to become permanent.