Ernst campaign needs to get a fast attack response team in gear
A fresh piece of info ripe for the Ernst campaign. WSJ editorial today reports on a study showing that Bruce Almighty’s “Cash for Clunkers” actually cost car makers money and concludes that the fiasco produced no economic benefits and is an example of the kind of dim-witted policies of the Democrats which explains why the economy is still limping along 6 years after the dawn of “Hope and Change”. Excerpts from the WSJ article:
In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper this month, economists at Texas A&M return to Cash for Clunkers, the 2009 stimulus fillip that dispensed vouchers worth as much as $4,500 if people turned in their old cars for destruction and bought a new set of wheels. Mark Hoekstra, Steven Puller and Jeremy West report their “striking” finding that the $3 billion program’s two-month run subtracted between $2.6 billion and $4 billion from the auto industry.
. . . And any environmental benefits cannot be justified under the federal social cost of carbon estimate of $33 a ton. Prior research from 2009 and 2013 has shown that the program cost between $237 and $288 a carbon ton.
The basic economic illogic of Cash for Clunkers is that you can’t create wealth by destroying serviceable assets and then force-feeding consumer spending on replacements. But the saving grace was supposed to be that at least the auto makers benefited from a government-sponsored firesale on their products. Now that illusion has collapsed too
As of this writing, late in the day, the Ernst Campaign has not commented or at least not posted anything on the campaign website about the matter. It is certainly something that Braley cannot disassociate himself from. Other of our commentaries and links regarding Braley’s clunker program are available here and here. DLH w/ R Mall
