{sigh} I’m afraid no matter what happens, the tenuous thread is about to snap. We are, IMHO, looking at an accelerating rate of Third-Worldization in this country, in which the rich get richer with a vengeance, and the rest of us are going to end up sifting through the garbage dump for food, clothing, and furniture. Should we be screwing poor people so as to get adequate public transportation in this country? Certainly not. But y’know…as a practical matter the poor and the (soon to be former) middle-class are gunna be screwed, anyway. One thing’s for sure: the Richistani won’t be riding lightrail, trains, and buses. But the rest of us are going to need those things.

But what about in the meantime? The working poor and recently unemployed are already strapped for cash – just trying to find a way to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. They have no money to pay for a new or a new-to-them vehicle. And how would they get to work, or find a job? The tenuous thread many families are hanging by would snap, and there would be millions more in the most dire of straits.

I DO think that adding transport systems is vital. I just don’t think we have to accomplish it while devastatinpeople who own gas guzzlers – many of whom would replace them with more gas-efficient vehicles if they could.

We also need to remember that not everyone who owns a gas guzzler is driving one for status or image. Like my friend with five children under five, who needs the room for five car seats.

The guzzlers traded in through the program are for the most part destroyed, meaning they won’t be contributing to the problem any longer. Of course my frugality meter is upset about the waste of money, but I understand it’s for the greater good.

But if they passed a law preventing registering these cars now, in the midst of the economic crisis so many are facing, it would break many families to have a vehicle that they could not drive nor replace.

Besides, most of America does not have light rail systems, nor bus routes that adequately cover the urban areas, let alone the suburbs and rural communities. And building the infrastructure to provide these services would cost trillions, not billions. Using the C for C money to help one area would be great for that one community, but leave so many others stranded.

It’s not a great plan – we know that. But it is stimulating an industry that was so stagnant and troubled it threatened to bring down the economy of our entire country. It’s not just car salesmen that benefit- it’s factory workers and parts suppliers and truckers and all of the industries supported by the auto industry.

It is a band aid, to be sure, and a costly one at that. But at least these guzzlers will be off the road.