ODE: To Cash For Clunkers

Have you junked your old car yet -- under the government's Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS)...aka "Cash for Clunkers"?

The House of Representatives passed the 2 billion extension July 31 and the Senate approved the money August 06.

The voluntary vehicle trade-in and purchase/lease program falls under the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009. Consumers, who trade in a less fuel efficient car or truck, can get a government rebate of up to 45 hundred dollars to pay for a new, more fuel efficient car or truck from a participating dealer.

If you’re wondering why congress rushed to approve more money (after the initial one-billion-dollars ran out), while they’re balking over Health Care, here’s my take on it.

Forgive my poetic license:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door…" **

Not the newly homeless or jobless about
Who go hungry...we think!?
Nor those whose pensions are wiped out
Their HEALTH be dammed! Live on the brink…

Easier to spend billions on clunkers
Get new cars rolling off the lot
Than invest in Healthcare
For those who need support

WE your congressmen…and women
Hate waste and graft, we’re moved by expedience
Having voted for a wasteful war
(Well, we didn’t have good examples from before)
We find, we think, and do concur
That universal healthcare is a…
Socialist way to go!

Someone dared to pipe up from the crowd:
Excuse me, Mr. Big, Omniscient Congressman
Social Security IS a socialist concept
AND IT REALLY COSTS A LOT
Is way too expensive
And likely to go bankrupt!

And the big, powerful congressman
Retorted: don't think!
You sent us to Washington to do that for you
Those decisions, YOU, must let US do
Facts are unimportant things
It’s not the Truth
But the spin you wrap it in!

Clunkers make us look caring, dear
New vehicle sales will double, triple
Employers will hire
So ultimately, the jobless will get Healthcare

Then he added: Well, only those with jobs
Whose employers still offer healthcare
And those workers who can afford it
But does that matter…?

** Inscription on Statue of Liberty, from Emma Lazarus Poem, “The New Colossus”- 1883)