Wisconsin Sells Us Clunkers

Wis. on track to sell 500 state government cars

The actual amount of money gained from the sales of the cars is small. So far this year, the sale of 345 cars yielded $929,051, or $2,692 per vehicle.

Most of the vehicles are either at or above 100,000 miles or around 15 years old or more.

I wish I had known. I could have hoarded some of them for use in the next Cash for Clunkers Program. Buy them for $2,692 and trade them in for $4,500? Free money!

Hey! Why exactly did the State of Wisconsin avoid the Federal Government's Cash for Clunkers Program? Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you? What is it that Wisconsin sees that we don't?

If selling cars now ends up costing more later because they need to be replaced, the auctions don't make much sense, said Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau.

What if they don't need to be replaced? What if times will be extremely tough in the future and there is no real need to continue to pursue expansionist policies? What if Wisconsin is simply preparing for it? What if they disbelieve that there will be a strong and robust national recovery? What if they've studied up on Japan's deflationary mess? Inquiring minds want to know!

He called the reduction in the number of vehicles "very manageable" and said state agencies are adjusting to the smaller pool.

There are a lot of things we could all do in the name of reduction. We could adjust to a smaller standard of living. We could decide that eating out at restaurants is something we could do without. We could avoid the malls. We could avoid Disneyland. There's lots of ways we could do our part to follow Wisconsin's lead.

Here's the best part. By following Wisconsin's lead we can virtually guarantee that there will be another Cash for Clunkers Program. Woohoo! I'm not quite ready to trash my car yet. It's over 13 years old but has less than 80,000 miles on it. Perhaps in 10 more years I might be ready though. So please, do your part to help me buy a replacement car in the future. Brace for the Great Depression. Don't let the naysayers tell you that we can't still get there. Be optimistic!

I hope you enjoyed the economic sarcasm. Everyone is doing it these days. It's the new global pastime.