a clunker policy-- this time, for clunkers!

This is a version of Bastiat and Hazlitt's "broken window" fallacy-- that breaking a window will be good for an economy, since the window-maker will have a job as a result.

From Jere Downs in the C-J...

It is happening already. Customers are asking new-car dealers about getting as much as $4,500 for their old gas-guzzlers.

The new incentive, popularly known as "Cash for Clunkers," took effect Wednesday.

But it will be weeks before anyone knows the fine print of the federal program, such as how dealers register with the government for reimbursement of the rebates, or when and how salvage yards should process old vehicles into scrap.

To get the credit, the gas-guzzler has to be taken off the road and either destroyed or broken up for parts....

When drivers give up certain older vehicles, dealers can directly credit $3,500 or $4,500 against the cost of a new vehicle. The credit replaces any trade-in value of the vehicle, which can't be resold.

You must have owned and insured the trade-in vehicle for at least a year. That vehicle must be in driveable condition, and the model has to be rated by the Environmental Protection Agency with combined city and highway fuel mileage of less than 18 miles per gallon. Some large work trucks and vans have different rules.

The offer runs through Nov. 1....

Of course, car dealers know that you're getting the rebate, so they won't allow you to bargain nearly as hard for that new car. The upshot: destructive redistribution from taxpayers to beater-owners, dealers, and car manufacturers.