Oh, no: Sen. Mikulski pitches dumb car-loan stimulus again; Update: 71-26, passes
I’m watching Democrat Sen. Barbara Mikulski trying to attach her moronic car-loan stimulus plan again to the Senate version of the Generationl Theft Act of 2009. Doesn’t the auto industry have enough of our money already?
I nominated it for a Dumb Idea of the Day in last November:
Maryland Democrat Sen. Barbara Mikulski just wrapped up her pitch for another temporary stimulus gimmick — short-term tax incentives to car buyers. Unfortunately, she got Missouri GOP Sen. Kit Bond to co-sponsor this $2-3 billion feel-good amendment.
Under the bill she plans to introduce in a coming lame-duck session, interest payments on car loans, and sales and excise taxes would be tax-deductible, Mikulski said. The program, which would apply to new vehicles purchased through the end of 2009, would be part of legislation designed to stimulate the economy.
…Mikulski estimated that under her proposal, buyers of a $25,000 Dodge minivan would save $1,553. The incentives would apply to loans of up to $49,500. Households with incomes above $250,000 would not be eligible.
The estimated the cost of the proposal would be between $2 billion and $3 billion, she said.
Three quick points:
1) Now, these same Democrats who scream about global warming want Americans to buy more cars?
2) If they think these tax incentives are such good ideas, go ahead and make them permanent. Go. Ahead.
3) Spending beyond our means is what got this country into trouble in this first place. This kind of temporary political gimmickry is going to exacerbate the problem. Encouraging people to take out $50,000 car loans before the end of the year when they should be saving their money instead?
Brilliant.
The inevitable lard-up continues…
Update 4:02pm Eastern. Good to see Democrat Sen. Max Baucus opposing Mikulski’s amendment, supported by GOP Sen. Kit Bond (ugh!), based on the cost. He says it would cost $11 billion.
Update 5:02pm Eastern. Mikulski amendment passes 71-26. Tack on another $11 billion to the spendulus price tag.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Stimulus-Backed ‘Green’ Bankruptcy of the Week: Ener1
January 26, 2012 03:06 PM by Doug Powers
67 CommentsObama’s Green Robber Barons
January 25, 2012 09:13 AM by Michelle Malkin
89 CommentsWhite House Calls Solyndra Subpoena ‘Unreasonable Burden on the President’s Ability to Meet His Constitutional Duties’
November 5, 2011 10:22 AM by Doug Powers
84 CommentsCalifornia High Speed Rail Project Triples in Projected Cost, Won’t Be Ready for 22 Years
November 1, 2011 09:02 AM by Doug Powers
117 CommentsThe Latest Dept of Energy Loan Recipient to Declare Bankruptcy Is…
October 31, 2011 02:00 PM by Doug Powers
75 CommentsWhite House Orders Review of Energy Department Loans
October 28, 2011 04:49 PM by Doug Powers
52 CommentsWhile you were sleeping: Sneaky midnight-hour Senate moves; EduJobs rejected, Commerce nominee/solar subsidy mogul approved, Fannie/Freddie loan limits increased
October 21, 2011 02:11 AM by Michelle Malkin
46 Comments
Categories: fiscal stimulus
Patterico
» Rick Santorum and the two playbooks

Pundit & Pundette
» King Barack vs. the Nonconformists
JustOneMinute
» Cat Blogging In A Harsh New Light
NRO
» The Church of Obama

Hot Air
» Bishops to Obama: No dice











Well, you’ve gotta give them credit for actually looking at tax cuts. They just need to be re-directed toward the right taxes, i.e. capital gains, corporate taxes, income taxes, etc…
Here a billion, there a billion, everywhere a billion billion. Old Obama spent my dough, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, OUCH!
Why do we keep putting into office politicians who’ve never run a business, never had a payroll to pay, never have any expertise that would translate to wise and obvious fixes to financial woes! Now they’re talking about “paid volunteers”!!!!!!!!! Do they not realize that is a contradiction in terms? I’m starting to wish there really was a parallel universe I could transport to! Scotty, beam me up!
Why was it that suspending Fica was such a bad idea?
Riiiiiiight, because people don’t spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need. Got it.
A couple of old axioms might fit well here—
It’s better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re ignorant than to open it and remove all doubt.
Or…
If you don’t have anything intelligent to say, don’t say anything at all.
Fixed it for ya.
Gee, and I bought a new car back in November. Dang, should have waited. This congress has really gone amok with its “feeding frenzy” on our money. The way I see it, if they offer everyone a “piece of the pie”, no-one will complain. That’s the congressional hope.
I don’t need a new car, but a couple of snow mobiles would be nice.
There seems to be very little difference in Senators, regardless of which Party they represent. The ignorance and arrogance is remarkable. The stupidity that emanates from the Senate is astounding. Never seems to end.
Since the banks no longer even know if they have any actual money left, and America has already overextended its credit, how is a consumer based stimulus (that encourages more consumer spending) of money they don’t have(debt)going to help at this point? Nobody is going to have income to repay these loans! We need to stimulate business, so they can borrow to keep their businesses running!
Business, oh evil business. You know the ones- they provide jobs (a three letter word)!
Look at the last hundred federal intervention decisions affecting private enterprise-draw 50 out of a hat,eliminate them, and this economy would recover fast!
What’s next?
Nationalized “Car Care”?
I think I just heard Dave Ramsey’s head explode
Michelle, You should listen to Andrew Wilkow’s argument for this type of tax credit. I think Mikulski stole the idea from Andrew and added class warfare to it.
On a good year ten million new cars are sold in this country. That is only one twentieth of the adult population. Who buys new cars? It isn’t the poor.
So we can be clear on this. The social engineering idiots in Washington want to tax the lower income groups with tobacco increases and give breaks to those who are more financially comfortable.
Smart move Dems.
Ya gotta speak Palin-ese here.
Why can’t they extend it to current car loans? I don’t want to buy a new car, but a tax deduction for my wife’s car loan would be nice. Can we make it retro to 2008 returns?
Oh wait, that won’t help the UAW and the banks are already getting bailed out.
Never mind.
The truth is out there.
Americans already own far too many cars. The auto plants have excess production capacity. This ain’t gonna change the facts.
Sub-prime car loans, yah, that will do it.
Years ago (under Carter) Mikluski pushed for luxury taxes on planes, cars, furs, jewelry and boats over a specific cost limit. (RVs were excluded from the list.)
The upshot is that these taxes destroyed the marine industry in Maryland and the industry did not recover until the tax was ditched. People found it cheaper to buy a boat overseas and ship it to the states then to pay the taxes. Small businesses crumbled and closed. People lost jobs all over the place. What a mess.
Mikluski should have had some idea of the impact on this bill on her home state since the maritime industry is crucial to the Chesapeake Bay and Baltimore.
Yes, this is the wisdom that Mikluski brings to the Senate. Way to go… This is why we need term limits.
Good. I’ve been trying to talk myself into a new F-150.
Pimp my Ride?
So does that mean Obami will be picking up mu X3 payment???
Who can afford a new car and who would be stupid enough to buy one with so many jobs uncertain?
We can’t afford a new car. We have my grandma’s 1994 Olds and our 2000 Jeep, both with a bazillion miles. Sexy they’re not. But they’ll get us by until our last 2 kids graduate from high school. And do our kids have cars? No, we can’t afford that either.
We spend our money on ballet, voice and percussion (prom, homecoming, choir, band, winter percussion, etc high school is expensive!) to give our kids the best opportunity to make their dreams come true. We don’t take vacations, we send the kids on field trips to foreign countries and Disney Music Days. They’ll be done in less than 2.5 years and we want to enjoy it while we can.
Yes, we could eliminate their activities and send them to work, if they could find jobs (my son has tried with no luck). But that’s not what we choose to do. They’ll be working to get through college, it can wait until then.
So that little tax break is useless to us.
I want to see businesses get tax breaks so that our jobs are more stable. I’m an IT consultant and my main client has a freeze on new projects. Let’s see their money freed up so that my company is working again.
democrat social engineering and pet projects. do what obama said all through his CAMPAIGN; give 95% of the people a permanent tax cut, and do what must be done, which is to cut the size of every government, local city, county, state, and federal. you can start with the police, who’s job is not to fight crime, but to generate ticket revenue, and the fire departments, who actually work in most cities less than 10 times per year ( let the house burn down, and pay the replacement value) and move on to school districts which spend only on teacher and staff WANTS, and make the kids go sell cookies and junk to buy student NEEDS. then we can jettison the U.N., NATO, our military being the world’s beat cop, and all dep’t of state foreign spending on do-gooderisms.