Alan Blinder, who seems to have an idea I find intriguing every year or so, suggests that having the government buy old cars which are very large polluters would be good for the environment (obviously), stimulate the economy (at a comparatively low cost) and might do a little to equalize income distribution. This idea is not original with Blinder, as he freely acknowledges. It's been tried or is being tried in California, Colorado, Delaware, Texas, Virginia and in Canada.
It's a simple idea that has merit. One study estimates that cars older than 13 years account for 75% of all pollution from cars. I think that's pushing it but clearly the clunkers do more than their share of fouling the atmosphere.
2 comments:
I think it would be better to have emissions testing on cars over 8 years old. Charge $$ for the test and charge again for a retest on those cars that fail.
Either the cars will be fixed or dumped. Either way, the emissions will improve.
All this talk of dumping your SUV and even this plan leave out the cost and pollution of making the new car. How much does it cost the environment to mine the iron, smelt it, manufacture the parts, produce the plastic, etc?
I would like to see the money spent on public transit, not some scheme to put public money into car companies wallets.
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