A clunker of an idea

Is there anything good about the Cash for Clunkers program? After an exorbitant bailout of the car industry financed by taxpayers (though I guess you could argue that no one paid as the money was just printed, but we'll pay later), taxpayers must now pony up to $4500 each (or a total of "billions and billions," as the late Carl Sagan would say) to subsidize people who were going to buy a new car anyway purchase a car that gets at least 4 mpg better mileage that really won't reduce the carbon footprint.

In a typical month, according to Edmunds, 60,000-70,000 clunker-type car deals occur, so that the deals occurring under this program now are roughly at or slightly above what would have happened anyway, perhaps just slightly accelerating the natural trade-in rate (and decelerating future purchases?). And if you are a responsible citizen who cares about the environment, sorry, the free money is only for the environmentally irresponsible driving the low mpg cars. Are the clunker-traders likely to "trade down" to a smaller, far more fuel-efficient car? Probably not, as the data show (can't remember where I read it, though) that people who drive bigger, less fuel-efficient cars (the clunkers) are likely to buy cars that are still pretty big, i.e., closer to the 4 mpg gain types. Also, a new car tends to be driven around twice as much as the traded-in car, resulting in a short-term net increase in emissions. Add the carbon needed to manufacturer and deliver the new vehicle, and the carbon break-even is typically several years, perhaps resulting in a long-term net loss environmentally.

So now the old cars are being destroyed, many dealers are having problems getting reimbursed for many of the same reasons that we don't get the rebates we expect as consumers, the environmentally unfriendly are being rewarded, the auto-industry is getting another enormous stimulus from the taxpayers without their approval, and there is tremendous cost for a program that really won't help the environment or the tax payers (or the used car dealers, probably).

Can't wait to see what happens with health care.

Great Expectations

Those of you in college are at an age where you are supposed to be idealistic, and it is good to pursue your dreams. I truly hope you realize them.

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -
And admirably schooled in every grace;
In fine we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

-Edwin Arlington Robinson

I read that in high school and thought it chilling and remarkable. While the outcome is grossly exaggerated for most, put a few miles on and one truly comes to understand that

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
-Henry David Thoreau

That is amazingly insightful...

I really do hope that your dreams do come true, and by all means pursue those dreams, but understand that great expectations are rarely realized. And how will you react when all is not perfect? Maturity is keeping the highs not so high, and the lows not so low. Your life will rarely "fire on all cylinders," that is, not all aspects will be great simultaneously. There's always some good with the bad, and some bad with the good. And if you cannot be satisfied with that, then one calm summer evening the quiet desperation may become unbearable. So learn early that it's fine to whimper but don't complain, and count your blessings as the world doesn't owe you a thing. Follow your dreams, but at some point be content in the realization that OK is OK.

Hunters

Forget the arguments about thinning the herd, top of the food chain, eat what you kill, or the laughable "sport" justifications for the morality of hunting. What it comes down to is people who enjoy killing, and anyone who enjoys killing is psychologically whacked.

Character

We recently hired a person and signed her to a contract, only to have her renege on that contract when what to her was a better offer came along. There are a lot of these situations in life, whether they are invitations to a better party, offers for a better date, or any situation where a better offer than a previous commitment comes along, but ultimately "you have to go home with the one that brung you there." It's just a matter of honor and a reflection of one's morals. As I wrote to the reneger:

"Everything works out ultimately for the best, I suppose, and I have no animosity towards you whatsoever. But I do want to make this last comment in the hope that you will someday understand it: it is easy to keep one's word when it is to one's benefit to do so, but to keep one's word when it is not to one's benefit is the measure of character."