The Onion nails it

Again.  Key quote:

Citing the billions of dollars wasted annually on flavored water and boneless buffalo wings, the number of drunk-driving deaths each year, and the lack of citizen accountability for the rise of Kim Kardashian, government officials registered extremely low opinions of the American people overall.

Hector Projector?

Have you ever read the theory of Freudian Projection? When I saw the chart below it made me think of it. Basically Freud said that we project our own neuroses or problems onto others or the outside world at large. In essence, the things that we are most mad at in ourselves we blame on outside forces.

Whenever I catch family or friends do this I call them Hector Projector. For example, Jillian Michaels from NBC's the Biggest Loser is defintely a Hector Projector, she hates the fat and lazy person inside of her and that's what she hates in others. Is the average American family being a hector projector about the deficit? Click above at the debt as a share of GDP for the American Household on the left and then look at Government Debt on the right.

Hat tip to The New York Times for the chart. If you want to read the article, click here.

What to do about Cash-for-Clunkers program

So apparently the $1 billion program in the stimulus has run out of funds in a few weeks. The program provides up to $4,500 for qualifiying car purchases from trading in cars that are less than 25 years old with low mileage standards to new cars with higher mileage standards.

The House recently approved a new appropriation for $2 billion to be allocated for the program. I do not know if that is new money or just a bigger slice of the stimulus. Also, rumor has it that Senate Republicans and Blue Dogs are looking to kill the new House appropriation of funds.

Overall, I think this is an idea that is working. The fact that it ran out of money in a few weeks shows that it's working. And I think this shows where government can be effective if it's targeted well. The consumer gets $4,500 towards a new car which will save them money in the long run. The government gets old gas-guzzlers off the road and newer more environmentally friendly ones on, and to top it all off, the car companies and local dealerships get an increase in business, which hopefully sustains employment, or perhaps even increases it.

I can buy that perhaps the $4,500 per family may be a bit too much. The housing credit is $8,000 and that's for buying a house! So maybe in the Senate version they can approve the appropriation but perhaps lower the credit to $3,000, thus allowing more families access to this program. But I think killing it would be a bad idea.

Let me know what you think. I've posted a poll.