There are many reasons why Cash For Clunkers I and Cash For Clunkers II are bad ideas, but I will focus on just one. Libertarians believe in free markets without government intervention. Cash For Clunkers inserts the government into the economy and thereby gives preferential treatment to one group of private enterprise over another group.
When the government steps in to provide special incentives for cars it does so at the disadvantage of businessmen and women who have risked their hard-earned capital in alternative forms of transportation. For instance, the owners of Agee's bicycle are at a disadvantage when people are directed at buying cars over bikes. Aren't bikes a more Earth-friendly alternative? Why should they suffer to benefit Ford?
Or how about the owners of the Harley Davidson outlet off Route One in Ashland? Why aren't we giving special incentives to motorcycle buyers or RV buyers? What about Segway outlets?
Think about manufacturers of mass tranportation vehicles. Shouldn't the goal be to get people to use mass transit? If demand for mass transit is weakened by the government encouraging more cars, then these mass trans manufacturers suffer too.
Free markets work best when they are free from government interference. Cash for Clunkers should be shut down because it benefits one group over the other (and because we don't have the money to pay for it).
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