Have you ever heard on the radio or seen on television, Cash for Clunkers? Well I have, and I never really thought much about what it really meant until this class. What it really stands for is Car Allowance Rebate System, or (CARS). I figured it was kind of important, since that’s all you hear about on the radio every day. When you think about it, getting 4,500 hundred dollars for trading in a clunker sounds like a really good deal. My mom has always said, when something sounds too good to be true it usually is. First of all there are rules with the type of trade in. The car must be less than twenty five years old, and has to get eighteen miles per gallon or less. It also has to be in running condition, and you have to at least of owned it for a year. You also want to make sure you are trading in a car that has very little value. The policy states that they cannot sell it again and it has to be demolished.They officially started it on July 1, 2009 and were going to end it on November 1, 2009 or until the money runs out. Turns out after one week into the rebate 250,000 clunkers had been turned in and 1billion dollars more of the taxpayer money had been spent. President Obama funded more money for the program, and extended it until August 22, 2009. The government said this was going to be such a good program because it would get gas guzzlers off the road and more people using fuel efficient cars. This was supposed to help the environment, and stimulate the economy. It turns out that you can trade a huge truck for another gas guzzling truck; it just has to get 3-5 miles per gallon better mileage. It sounds like you don’t have to pay taxes on your voucher, but at your state level you do. I am up for anything that will help stimulate the economy, but how much more money can they spend that they don’t have. When is enough going to be enough? I have been taught that if I don’t have the money to buy something I have to save until I do. I don’t think this is what they‘re teaching our country. Car dealers have been having trouble getting money for rebates. They can’t even handle promises with car dealers. How are they going to manage our healthcare? That is kind of a scary thought.Why I am on the topic of heath care they say swine flu, also known as H1N1, could affect so many people that it could become an epidemic. They are saying that schools could be hit the hardest, because there is a large group of kids in one place and close to each other. Cleanliness is not always the first priority of kids. The Infection Control Center says it does not appear to be more dangerous than your regular flu, but it just may infect more people, which would increase the potential number of deaths. They vaccinated about 100 million Americans with the polio vaccine, and they say the immunization for the swine flu will be larger than that. So even though my mom pushes me to go to school when I don’t feel well, the smarter thing would be to stay home.
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