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A La Carte (10/6)
- 10/06/09
- 7
Cash for Clunkers Fails to Help
Common sense dictated this would happen but it’s still worth reading why it failed. After all, there’s an important economic lesson in it. “In the category of all-time dumb ideas, cash for clunkers rivals the New Deal brainstorm to slaughter pigs to raise pork prices. The people who really belong in the junk yard are the wizards in Washington who peddled this economic malarkey.”
Letterman and the Gospel
Russell Moore: “If you pay a little attention right now to David Letterman, you could learn something critical about carrying the gospel to your neighbors, and to yourself.”
How To Be a Book Critic
“You spend all that time, years maybe, writing a book, and what does someone do? Gives it to a book reviewer. Or worse, a critic. Writers, take heart. Samuel Johnson understands, and speaks for you. Celebrating Johnson’s tercentenary, Harvard University Press has just published a fine edition of his “Selected Writings,” edited by Peter Martin. In an essay for the “Idler,” Dr. Johnson expounded on what it takes to be a book critic…”
Young Married Life
Young Married Life is a new blog courtesy of Focus on the Family and the people of Boundless Magazine.
Double-Tongued Deacons
Mounce looks at 2 Timothy 3:8 and turns it into a very interesting discussion of different Bible translation philosophies. Academics take note: Mounce does a superb job, week after week, of showing the average schmoe like myself why we need academics. If you want to start a blog as an academic, consider modeling after what Mounce does.
Common sense dictated this would happen but it’s still worth reading why it failed. After all, there’s an important economic lesson in it. “In the category of all-time dumb ideas, cash for clunkers rivals the New Deal brainstorm to slaughter pigs to raise pork prices. The people who really belong in the junk yard are the wizards in Washington who peddled this economic malarkey.”
Letterman and the Gospel
Russell Moore: “If you pay a little attention right now to David Letterman, you could learn something critical about carrying the gospel to your neighbors, and to yourself.”
How To Be a Book Critic
“You spend all that time, years maybe, writing a book, and what does someone do? Gives it to a book reviewer. Or worse, a critic. Writers, take heart. Samuel Johnson understands, and speaks for you. Celebrating Johnson’s tercentenary, Harvard University Press has just published a fine edition of his “Selected Writings,” edited by Peter Martin. In an essay for the “Idler,” Dr. Johnson expounded on what it takes to be a book critic…”
Young Married Life
Young Married Life is a new blog courtesy of Focus on the Family and the people of Boundless Magazine.
Double-Tongued Deacons
Mounce looks at 2 Timothy 3:8 and turns it into a very interesting discussion of different Bible translation philosophies. Academics take note: Mounce does a superb job, week after week, of showing the average schmoe like myself why we need academics. If you want to start a blog as an academic, consider modeling after what Mounce does.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (7)
Good article on Letterman.
“The power the blackmailer had over the comedian was in the truthfulness of his accusations.”
The clunkers article doesn’t really support the claims it makes, for what it’s worth.
For instance, the author notes that new car sales were down 25% the first month after the program expired, and that that is evidence that all people did is purchase cars they were going to buy anyway. How on earth does that follow? Clearly some people bought cars under the program that they would have bought anyway, but does the author sincerely believe this is true for every purchase subsidized under the program?
He makes this statement: “Cash for clunkers had two objectives: help the environment by increasing fuel efficiency, and boost car sales to help Detroit and the economy.”
He then points out how the program did, in fact, increase fuel efficiency. Just not to the level he apparently thought it would. He also notes that the program was a “net loss” financially speaking, when taking into account fuel savings, etc. Okay. One of its intended purposes, though, was to serve as an indirect bailout of the auto industry by generating additional demand. Bailouts cost money, and do not immediately appear to be profitable. This particular bailout, though, theoretically motivated consumers to purchase more efficient vehicles.
This particular bailout, though, theoretically motivated consumers to purchase more efficient vehicles.
I don’t think he would deny that. But when you consider the cost to benefit of this “bailout,” you have to see that it just wasn’t worth it. And why? Because you can’t create wealth by destroying things that are inherently valuable. It makes perfect sense.
If the stated goal were to “create wealth” then I could buy that. I don’t think that was the stated goal. The stated goal was to keep the American auto manufacturers from failing, while improving the overall fuel efficiency of the American “fleet”. Instead of Cash-For-Clunkers that money could have just gone into the same pot used to buy shares in those manufacturers. Instead, they decided to artificially manufacture some temporary revenue for the manufacturers by increasing domestic demand.
I mean, you can certainly argue that the bailing out the auto manufacturers was a terrible idea to begin with and that, as part of that effort, Cash-For-Clunkers was a bad idea. I might agree with you. But to say that the Cash-For-Clunkers program failed in its goals…I’m not sure that’s true.
Tim,
I have noticed that you have a keen interest with the original languages, linguistics, and translation theory. Why don’t you take up learning, for example, Greek. I think you would be good at it, and a quick learner.
I have noticed that you have a keen interest with the original languages, linguistics, and translation theory. Why don’t you take up learning, for example, Greek. I think you would be good at it, and a quick learner.
Discipline, mostly. I’ve studied French and Latin for years and have one year of Greek as well. But I just haven’t found a way of studying languages independently; it’s a discipline issue. And, increasingly, it’s a time issue.
I believe that the text in Mounce’s article is 1 Timothy 3:8: Not 2 Timothy 3:8, although Mounce would do an excellent job there as well.