A New CFC Problem

Look! It's One of the Smaller, More Fuel-Efficient Vehicles the Government Intended People to Purhcase
(Image Credits: General Motors)

Unintended consequences; history is full of them. One need look no further than chlorofluorocarbons to see how something that was hailed as a brilliant, world-changing discovery with the course of time threatened the very existence of humanity. CFCs were in everything from aerosols to air conditioners. By the late-1980s they were outlawed to try and stave off the growing hole in the ozone layer. Or take plastics, DDT, antibiotics, or any other invention that has had some effect or result that its inventor could not envision. Because science and engineering are practiced by imperfect, temporally-limited human beings, we will never be able to fully predict which successes are worthy of laud today, yet will be questioned mightily by future generations as if it should have been obvious to us.
There is a new CFC problem threatening the United States. This one is called the 'cash-for-clunkers' scheme. And, it too, so it would seem, has just as many problems as the original CFCs.
This AP story details how some people are taking advantage of the CFC rebate scheme to purchase luxury SUVs such as the Cadillac SRX, Lincoln MKX, and BMW X3. As the story details, these car dealers and interested buyers are merely taking advantage of a loophole in the agreement. It is not as if the money is being misappropriated; these vehicles actually qualify for government subsidy. It is a classic case of unforeseen consequences. The spirit of the program is that people will trade down from gas-guzzling SUVs to smaller, more efficient cars. The trouble is that if people wanted smaller, more-efficient cars they would have bought them in the first place. Instead--as is always the case with any law--the involved parties (the government included!) are doing the minimum possible.
The cars available for sale in the US have appallingly low fuel economy, so the MPG bar can only be set so high; otherwise the plan would be a catastrophic flop for the government since no one would take advantage of it. Consumers are not interested in buying smaller, more-efficient cars, otherwise they would have done so in the first place. Car dealers are interested in selling cars with the maximum amount of incentive; hence, they are unlikely to refuse to sell an SUV to someone under the CFC scheme because it 'doesn't fit the intended spirit.' Like any 'successful' government instituted plan, everyone gets to say they win, but realy, no one does.