Getting stinky old clunkers off the road. Good idea? Or sinister plot?

Yes we can!

A car is a means of getting from A to B in a relatively comfortable fashion and preferably quickly. Now I don't think there's an aware person in the world who doesn't know that cars also consume non-renewable, polluting resources, at least the cars we used to build. The old cars were built like a tank, weighed a ton and if you listened real hard you could hear a slurping sound in the back, that was your gasoline being consumed. There's a new car out that has that same slurp in it, the Hummer, but let's not go there. In an effort to become less dependent upon fossil fuels, the US government, like it's European counterparts offered cash for clunkers, really old vehicles that were the most polluting of all. I'm not sure how the roads looked after that in the US, but here in Europe it was a very satisfactory run programme, removing some of the worlds worst polluters from our cities and in doing so, making a contribution to a more sustainable future. So can I sell my car for cash? I think you'd better!

Licenced and bonded

Of course, in America there was the original cash for cars programme, licenced and bonded offering top dollar for your used car, trying to get you to sell it for cash to people who really want your old car, instead of trading it in to your used car dealer who according to the cash for cars people, have very little interest in your clunker. Either way, the US government offered cash for clunkers in an effort to clean up the environment and then of course there was the highly contested FOX news piece that Glenn Beck did. I included the video here.

Makes you wonder...

His position is that the government website related to the cash for clunkers program has a warning online that effectively allows your government access to all your computer files. Now, what is the deal here? According to Glenn Beck the text he warns people about is a privacy act from 1974. He never produces the text online, but instead provides the supposed text on a big screen.

In the same program, almost in the same sentence he scares people by warning them to not go to the supposed link on this website, not to check this out. He frightens people into believing that the government has cookies and has evil intent to pry into your personal belongings, your personal files and can even tapping into your phonecalls.

Now I can't help but wonder: Why in the world would the American government be in the least interested in your vacationpictures, your private conversations with your daughter who is away at college or your dare I say it? “Secret erotic images” squirreled away in some corner of your computer. Does that make sense?

Original Cash for cars will not run out of money!

The government programme as I understand it was very succesful, in fact it went offline in a few days because the funds allotted to it were all gone. Thankfully the American people weren't scared enough to fall for this rather obvious attempt at making the government look like, what did he call it “evil tzars” instead of celebrating the succesful programme that took over 22.000 gasguzzlers off the road in favor of more economic vehicles and less polution. The fact that their website was taken off the air later doesn't mean the privacy act Glenn Beck and Fox contended was on there was actually on there. It meant that the program had succesfully taken so many cars off the road that the programme ran out of money. Something that is not likely to happen at the original Cash for Cars. Their programme is not likely to run out of money because it is how they make their money! So don't hesitate to bring in that old clunker you've got littering your driveway. Or maybe, don't even bother bringing it in! They'll pick it up right outside your door. Now that's service for ya!