United Liberty

As thousands of car owners trade in their old vehicles under the “Cash for Clunkers” program, charities fear they will see a decrease in the amount of old cars that are donated for people who cannot afford them.

USA Today reports:

Charities across the country are concerned that the popular “cash-for-clunkers” program will entice people to junk old cars for credit toward new ones rather than donate them.

“We know there’s going to be a significant impact,” says Chad Iseman, director of the Kidney Cars program for the National Kidney Foundation. Iseman says the foundation gets about 19% of its annual revenue from selling donated cars. The charity said it estimates a 10% to 15% decline because of the federal rebates.

Of course, media outlets were shouting everywhere what a success the program was, but few took the time to check (bless you USA Today) for a little thing called unintended consequences.

To paraphrase Mr. Bastiat, “There is only one difference between a bad journalist and a good one: the bad journalist confines himself to the visible effect; the good journailst takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.”

HT Russ Roberts