Clunker quote of the day

From the NY Times: "A clunker of a program?"

"What we ended up with," said one senior Obama administration official, who would not speak on the record because he was being critical of his own administration's environmental bona fides, "is a program in which you trade in old clunkers for new clunkers."

Cash for Clunkers was a crutch to an industry that couldn't make a profit on its own, for dubious environmental benefits, with a big helping of moral hazard. Why not stimulate the glass industry by heaving bricks through car windows? It's a win-win!

Extra – Reuters: "How 'Cash for Clunkers' is adding carbon."