Please Kill It

Could a stupid government program actually die? Maybe:

Negotiations to save the dwindling “cash-for-clunkers” fund dragged out in the Senate on Wednesday, prompting Majority Leader Harry Reid to warn vacation-bound lawmakers they might be stuck in the Capitol a few more days if they don’t pass a $2 billion replenishment for the car rebate program quickly.

I’ll say this again. When you trade in your old car under the program, it’s destroyed. So a used car, presumably one that’s fine to drive, is taken off the market. Result: Prices for used cars goes up.

Which means President Obama and our lovely, lovely Congress are using tax borrowed dollars to subsidize middle-class (and up) auto purchases, while screwing the poor.

I’m sure they didn’t mean to, but the Law of Unintended Consequences is about the only business Congress attends to regularly.