Cash for Clunkers

The Arithmetic

Via freakonomics

Congress set aside $1 billion [$1,000,000,000] to fund the program. If all of that money was going to pay these subsidies, [at approx. $4,000 per] there would be enough money to pay for 250,000 clunkers.

According to the WSJ, before asking for another $2 billion, the clunker program had processed 80,000 cars. Again at $4,000 per, that would mean they spent $320,000,000 of the original $1,000,000,000 appropriation leaving unspent $680,000,000 enough for another 160,000 cars.

It was a stupid idea and throwing two more billion will make the idea thrice as stupid.

Enough is more than enough.