By: MICHAEL BARONE
Senior Political Analyst
Washington Examiner
August 3, 2009
…The teachable moment came at midnight Thursday when the government decided to suspend the less-than-four-weeks old Cash for Clunkers program. Congress scheduled it to last until November. But many more car owners than predicted walked into dealers to qualify for the $3,500 or $4,500 rebates for trading in their old cars for new ones with slightly (four miles per gallon) better gas mileage.
Mind you, the government hasn’t yet shelled out the $1 billion authorized for Cash for Clunkers. Dealers reduce the buyers’ prices and have to apply to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the rebates and NHTSA — surprise, surprise — has only managed to process 23,000 of an estimated 250,000 applications. The checks, we are told, will be in the mail. Oh, there’s another problem. The dealers are required to destroy the clunkers, which will reduce the supply and increase the price of spare parts for those low-income folks who can’t afford to trade their clunkers in even with a $4,500 subsidy. So much for helping the poor.
Cash for Clunkers is a prime example of the unanticipated consequences of hastily drafted legislation…
…If such simple laws can have such huge unanticipated consequences, what should we expect from the 1,000-plus-page laws congressional Democrats have been trying to write that would regulate the provision and financing of health care, one-sixth of our total economy?…
…Polling shows that most Americans are happy with the health insurance they have…Government insurance will tend to close off the option of exit, trapping you in a system that is sure to be riddled with unanticipated consequences…Unintended consequences can cost you far more when, as a patient, you need medical treatment and care.
The entire article is available at Washington Examiner