CASH FOR CLUNKERS -- NOT SO DEAD?

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Even as the Specialty Equipment Market Association and its SEMA Action Network proclaims the moronic, government-funded collector-car-crushing "Cash for Clunkers" plan is dead, it's apparently arising from its legislative grave.

(Of course, it is the Easter season . . . .)

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - A top U.S. congressional Democratic on Tuesday hailed a White House-backed bid to provide consumers a voucher toward buying new fuel-efficient vehicles in exchange for a poorer performing older model.

House of Representatives Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer said the proposal could help the ailing U.S. auto industry as well as reduce air pollution.


Hoyer is apparently jealous of Senator Richard Shelby's unofficial title as the most automotively-stupid federal legislator.

This insanity will drive up the deficit. It will inflate the price of used replacement parts that millions of hot rodders, tuners, grassroots racers, and restorers rely upon.

It will also lead to the scrappage of restorable and collectable vehicles and rare milestone vehicles.

It will crush the aftermarket and dry up supplies of "emissions exempt" core vehicles that are necessary for seldom-driven restoration and high-performance projects.

As SEMA SAN correctly observes:

“SEMA continues to believe that a Cash for Clunkers program would, for no proven gain, hurt thousands of independent repair shops, auto restorers, customizers and their customers across the country that depend on the used car market,” said SEMA Vice President of Government Affairs Steve McDonald. “Instead, we are working with the House and Senate and all stakeholders on sound economic solutions to the current recession that will help drive product sales for the entire auto industry, including the vast automotive aftermarket and its specialty equipment segment.”

Much like Justice Scalia opined in Lamb's Chapel v. Ctr. Moriches Union Free Sch. Dist. ((91-2024), 508 U.S. 384 (1993)) about the infamous "Lemon" test, "Cash For Clunkers" is "Like some ghoul in a late night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried . . . frightening the little children" and gearheads of all stripes.

Let's kill "Cash for Clunkers" dead, dead, dead this time around. Call or write your Senators and representative today.