Photo from Tour de Fat
Okay okay, I know it's not a fair trade, but just give me a minute to make my case. First off, cash for clunkers is burning through cash like a freshly bailed out Wall Street exec on a trip to the Caymans. The money will only last a few more hours apparently, so why let this help so few people and take in so few clunkers?
Second, the automotive companies are not the only American businesses worthy of saving. How about some of our great biking companies like Trek or Cannondale? These are entrepreneurial and what could be more American than biking? Okay, so maybe the Tour de Fat isn't as big as the Tour de France yet, but it is growing - go ahead look it up when you're done.
So here you go - you bring in your clunker- something horrible with at least 6, hopefully 8 nasty cylinders and a poorly functioning or nonexistent catalytic converter. Free helmet if this is your daily driver. Anyway, so you then get a brand new, CO2 free, commuter bike! At the rate of let's say 400 bucks a piece, we could put 5 million bikes on the road for $2 billion (check my math, but I'm pretty sure on that). So then, you have taken 5 million cars off the road in exchange.
This is a ridiculously green proposal! Now you have to build new bike lanes and bike racks (jobs for americans) and you might even get a shower at work! Productivity bonus! If you think this is crazy, then just go ahead and burn through the rest of that cash, but just think about it... 5 MILLION BIKES. That's something to get stimulated about.
-Charles
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