Posted by: David Olix
02/05/2002, 01:40:42
|
I realize that as one of those left wing environmentalists that certain members of this board are fond of bashing, I am in a distinct minority here, but let me add my take on this. First, did any of you actually read the text of the Senate bill? If you had, you would realize that Uncle Sam is not going to come along like the bogey man in the night and take away our Mavericks and make a steel briquettes out of them. What he is going to do is give money to anyone who really _wants_ to get rid of an old clunker, and more money if the guy can afford to replace it with something that meets tougher mileage standards. Each person can only dispose of one car per year. And don't worry about your favorite parts yard disposing of its inventory in exchange for some federal scratch, because the program only covers whole cars that run. The legislation will allow someone who is already considering scrapping their old heap to do so and get paid more for it than they otherwise might get. It's no worse than a dealer giving you a $1000 trade in on something you had to tow to the lot.
I would really rather see, in this bill, something to curb the unchecked growth of the gas-guzzling SUV urban assault vehicle market. Want to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil? Don't buy a *brand new* gas hog that burns so damn much of it! And so that I don't get accused of being another liberal hypocrite, yes, I have one, but it sits in my garage most of the time until I want to take it somewhere where passenger cars fear to tread. I'm talking about the 'wife mobiles' that I see all around me every day idling in clogged traffic with the drivers chatting on cell phones instead of paying attention to the guy in the small car trying to avoid their semi truck-sized blind spots.
|
