WHY NOT GET REAL SMART, AND DO AS IF OTHER PEOPLE HAD BRAINS TOO?
Cash for clunkers is an old FRENCH idea. It was used several times in France over the last decade, with great success. It's used presently, with lots of variants (primes for very low CO2 emission cars, for cars more than 10 years old, etc...). The present clunker French program is supposed to expire at the end of 2009.
Cash for clunkers was long derided as typical French "Colbertism", or "dirigisme" (Colbert was a famous French finance and industry minister of the 17th century; some of the capitalist firms he helped then are still around today, and profitable, such as the giant Saint Gobain).
German governments long detested the cash for clunkers idea, viewing it as a French crutch, and other Europeans tried to block it as unfair business practice. This year, though, with its car industry dying, Germany adopted it with elan, splurging with enormous payments for every single vehicle. It was a resounding success: the German car industry is reviving.
This brings us to a more general point: why does not the government of the USA just study what is being done in Europe, on the other side of the pond, especially by the big countries?
In Europe the big countries themselves spend a huge amount of effort trying to duplicate successful strategies of smaller countries.
There is no shame in using others' solutions. There is shame in thinking the USA has it all figured out, though. The USA could gather enormous inspiration, by just studying French society and government in detail (France, for a number of reasons, including the long republican and revolutionary traditions in common, is the closest, more easily imitable model for the USA.)
Patrice Ayme
http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/
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