This Seattle P-I article reports $12 million dollars worth of "clunker" cars getting the junk yard heap treatment, but local dealers are asking among themselves "where's the money?" I saw an e-mail conversation among several dealers between Bellevue and Puyallup all asking the same question, "has anybody received any money from Uncle Sam?" One dealer lamented that with a half million dollars in accounts receiveables, and after submitting 120 "clunkers for cash" sales, the only response so far has been three rejections. Another dealer described how nerve racking it is to watch brand new cars drive off his lot without all the money in its proper place.

Rumour has it that only 1700 payments from the $1 billion dollar government program have been received nationwide. By my calculations, that means the taxpayers have paid $1 billion for a $7.65 million (1700 X $4500 each) subsidy. At less than one percent, that's about the return for our money we've come accustomed to from government run programs!

On top of the lack of cash flow necessary to cover the new vehicles that have left the lots, there is no possibility of getting any money back from the clunkers, since part of the program requires the dealer to pour a chemical in the car's engine to seize up the engine before it's hauled off to the scrap metal heap. That's another common feature of government run programs...a type of permanence to that "I just got screwed" feeling.