An Economic Stimulus Plan for the Auto Industry that would Work

[jmowreader]

Right now they're talking about giving, what, $25 billion to the automakers as a bailout? Try this instead.

Take $2 to $3 billion of the money and set it aside in a fund. Then offer either 100,000 ($2 billion pot) or 150,000 ($3 billion pot) vouchers, to be raffled off for a nominal sum--$10 sounds good--to anyone who meets three qualifications:

ownership of a running car that's model year 1990 or older
valid drivers license
willingness to purchase a car made by an American car company, if you win

You may enter the raffle one time, so there's no income restriction here.

If you win, you will receive a voucher. You will be required to turn in your shitbox when you redeem the voucher, which is good for no more than $20,000 toward the purchase of a new, American-brand car. You'll even receive full trade-in value for it! The trade-in will be checked: first, to be sure it's not stolen; second, to be sure there's no evidence of a crime in it; and third, to be sure someone didn't fuck up and turn in a classic car. The classics will be sold. The stolen ones will be returned to their rightful owners. The rest will be parted out and the remains turned into rebar.

Not all American cars cost $20,000, so check it out: We run a second round with the remaining money, plus whatever we made selling the classic cars people turned in. Anyone who entered the raffle in the first place and who didn't get a car is in the raffle for the second round.

This does a lot of good things. It gets 100,000-150,000 shitboxes off the road, minimum. It bails out the car companies in a way that mandates they use employees to make the cars. It churns traffic at dealerships, creates a nice-size stock of quality used auto parts, and gives America the recycled steel rebar it needs to build all the new infrastructure. It also saves fuel and cuts down on pollution

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. interesting idea

[Mist]

2. B-b-but what about huge salaries for car company executives? KIDDING! I like your idea, and

that's a great way to recycle the steel. And I like how it involves the public immediately via the raffle.