George Mason University economics professor Russell Roberts has a line by line rebuttal of President Barack Obama’s auto sales pitch from yesterday. Read the whole thing, but we liked this paragraph the best:
Therefore, to support demand for auto sales during this period, I’m directing my team to take several steps. First, we will ensure that Recovery Act funds to purchase government cars go out as quickly as possible and work through the budget process to accelerate other federal fleet purchases as well. [We will of course only be buying the cars of the loser incompetent companies, Chrysler and GM. No Fords. That would be unfair. They’re doing so well.] Second, we will accelerate our efforts through the Treasury Department’s Consumer and Business Lending Initiative. [Yes, let’s return to the days where your personal situation didn’t affect whether you got a loan. Loans all around!] And we are working intensively with the auto finance companies to increase the flow of credit to both consumers and dealers. [More and more and more and more loans. Can’t have enough loans. That’s how we got into this mess. Not enough loans!] Third, the IRS is today launching a campaign to alert consumers of a new tax benefit for auto purchases made between Feb. 16 and the end of this year — if you buy a car anytime this year, you may be able to deduct the cost of any sales and excise taxes. This provision could save families will cost taxpayers hundreds of dollars and lead to as many as 100,000 new car sales.