Another Boneheaded Freebie, Footed by American Taxpayers: Thanks for the Electric Golf Cart, Congress!
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 10, 2009
John Stossel debuts on FOX News tonight
How nice that our Democrat-majority Congress is so concerned about air pollution on the golf course… however, the electric golf carts that taxpayers are paying for and well-off duffers are getting gratis from federal stimulus funds are far more harmful with emitting pollutants than gas-powered golf carts.
Imagine that.
Boneheads. And, why are we paying for any fancy-schmancy golf carts at all? Americans are out of work, jobs are drying up, but we can dish out the taxpayers’ dough to buy friggin’ GOLF CARTS? Hey, call me a realist, but if you can afford the greens fees, you can afford your own dang golf cart. Or you can walk the course. But, as usual, Congress botched this stimulus/porkulus giveaway with the usual loopholes (accidental?), so who can truly blame anyone who takes advantage of the screwup?
Tonight, during his premier appearance as the newest addition to the FOX News team, John Stossel will cover the nonsense of taxpayer-funded electric golf carts. He will also take on global warming, and how the devastation and deaths brought on by poverty, malaria, and malnutrition are far worse in so many countries and are much cheaper and quicker to resolve than the trillions upon trillions of dollars the global warming alarmists want to spend on the climate change scam.
From FOX News, ‘Stossel’ Premiere to Take on Global Warming:
John Stossel buys an electric golf cart — and uses your tax dollars to pay for it. Tax credits for electric vehicles have become so large that in some cases they actually cover the full cost of the vehicle.
Stossel buys his golf cart from a dealership run by Colin Riley in Tuscon, Ariz. He checked in with more than 20 dealers in New York State and found almost all were sold out of the carts. No wonder.
But why is Congress so eager to pay for electric vehicles? According to the National Research Council, electric cars emit more harmful pollutants than gas-powered cars, because they rely on the electric grid for power, which is still dominated by fossil-fuels.
“Electric vehicles produced some of the highest non-climate damages in 2005,” the council found. “Although they produce no emissions during operation, they rely on electricity powered largely by fossil fuels for their fuel and energy intensive battery manufacturing.”
The best energy policy, Stossel says, is the free market: If an energy source is affordable and makes sense economically, then people will buy it.
More on the golf carts that Americans are paying for during the worst unemployment/economic recession in decades…
From Wall Street Journal, Cash for Clubbers:
We thought cash for clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic. Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama’s stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart.
The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart. Even in states that don’t have their own tax rebate plans, the federal credit is generous enough to pay for half or even two-thirds of the average sticker price of a cart, which is typically in the range of $8,000 to $10,000. “The purchase of some models could be absolutely free,” Roger Gaddis of Ada Electric Cars in Oklahoma said earlier this year. “Is that about the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?”
The golf-cart boom has followed an IRS ruling that golf carts qualify for the electric-car credit as long as they are also road worthy. These qualifying golf carts are essentially the same as normal golf carts save for adding some safety features, such as side and rearview mirrors and three-point seat belts. They typically can go 15 to 25 miles per hour.
In South Carolina, sales of these carts have been soaring as dealerships alert customers to Uncle Sam’s giveaway. “The Golf Cart Man” in the Villages of Lady Lake, Florida is running a banner online ad that declares: “GET A FREE GOLF CART. Or make $2,000 doing absolutely nothing!”
Golf Cart Man is referring to his offer in which you can buy the cart for $8,000, get a $5,300 tax credit off your 2009 income tax, lease it back for $100 a month for 27 months, at which point Golf Cart Man will buy back the cart for $2,000. “This means you own a free Golf Cart or made $2,000 cash doing absolutely nothing!!!” You can’t blame a guy for exploiting loopholes that Congress offers.
The IRS has also ruled that there’s no limit to how many electric cars an individual can buy, so some enterprising profiteers are stocking up on multiple carts while the federal credit lasts, in order to resell them at a profit later. We should note that some states, such as Oklahoma, have caught on to the giveaway and are debating whether to cancel or limit their state credits. But in Congress they’re still on the driving range.
This golf-cart fiasco perfectly illustrates tax policy in the age of Obama, when politicians dole out credits and loopholes for everything from plug-in cars to fuel efficient appliances, home insulation and vitamins. Democrats then insist that to pay for these absurdities they have no choice but to raise tax rates on other things—like work and investment—that aren’t politically in vogue. If this keeps up, it’ll soon make more sense to retire and play golf than work for living.
And Congress and Obama honestly believe our government can run our health care efficiently? When we’re facing another occurrence of Keystone-Kops-style government waste with this Cash for Clubbers? This would be hilarious if… if it weren’t so pathetic and tragic.
Fun on the Links: Pres. Barack Obama has golfed more in his short time in office than Bush did during his two-term presidency
Additional reading:
Big Government: The Pork Report, October 19, 2009 and Pork Report, December 10, 2009: Muskrat Love Edition
Gateway Pundit: Obama Drops 48 Points In Approval Index in 1 Year… A Good Solid B+ and Obama Tells GOP to Stop Scare Tactics As Dems Agree to Blow Billions More on Another Failed Jobs Creation Plan and Obama Unemployment Rate Remains in Double Digits — 10.0% and Dem’s NEW Jobs Plan will Only Cost America $300 Billion and House Republicans Ask Team Obama to Quit Repeating ‘Saved or Created’ Nonsense
GayPatriot: If Obama is really concerned about cutting the deficit, he should take lessons from a certain former Governor and Hey, Ma’am, what about the jobs in California?
MotorCityTimes: Obama ‘Plans To Spend’ Our Way Out Of Recession
Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: The Real Santa
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Eye-Rolling Time… Obama Now Claims He “Created or Saved One Million Jobs” (video) and Obama’s Disintegrating Economy: Worst Unemployment, at 10.2%, Since 1983… Obama Takes a Mini-Vacation, Still Hasn’t Gone to Fort Hood (video) UPDATE: He Has Gone to Ft. Hood, Finally and Illegal Immigration from Mexico Slowing, Has Dramatically Dropped Because of America’s Plunging Economy and Please Send in Clowns to Replace Obama Morons: Pay Increases Were Counted as Recovery Program’s “Jobs Saved” and Exaggeration Proclamation: Obama’s Economic Plan Overstated, by Thousands, Jobs Claimed Were Created
VotingFemale Speaks!: Breaking: Obama announces proposals aimed at saving a job, His and 76% Prefer Free Market Economy, DHS Watch List Must be HUGE! lol and CBC Threatens ‘Actions’ against Obama over unemployments; Pelosi claims Socialism’s failures are Bush’s Fault! hahaha and Between 100,000 and 200,000 doctors officially reject ObamaCare and Number of Democrats Falls to Four-Year Low, so says Rasmussen Poll; butt kicking of Socialism mounts
Ace of Spades HQ: Polls: Pollster.com’s Aggregated Average Puts Obama Underwater: Carville’s Democracy Corps Says Conservatives Make Big Gains
Hot Air: Examiner analysis: More than 10% of stimulus jobs are phony and Porkulus job numbers “wildly exaggerated”: Boston Globe?
Mike Flynn, Big Government: Obama Stimulus Numbers: The Return of Enron-Style Accounting
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), Big Government: Mr. President, Where Are the Jobs?
The New Ledger, Big Government: Unpacking the Job Numbers, Roadblocks for Bernanke, and the Future of Mainstream Media and Economy in the Lurch: Negative Interest Rates, the Fed Audit, and Geithner in the Dock and Do the Democrats Have Any Solutions on Jobs? Anything at All?
Steven Green, Big Government: The Political Landscape: The Slobs Versus the Snobs
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: Obama – we must spend our way out of this recession
Outside the Beltway: Congress to Investigate Fake Districts
Jumping in Pools: Obama Approval Under 50% According to Quinnipiac, Fox News, Rasmussen, and Gallup Polls
Michelle Malkin: The Stimulus Jobs Inflation Map and The Stimulus Jobs Inflation Index
Tai-Chi Policy: Just How Bad Is The Democrat’s Spending?
Doug O’Brien, Big Government: More Stimulus Math: Cooking the Books on Stimulus Jobs
The Powers That Be: Unemployment Stimulated Again
The American Pundit: Pork-Loving Senators Diverted Billions in Funds from Troops
The Lonely Conservative: $2.6 Billion Cut From Defense to Fund Pork
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: Stimulus Creating “Full-Time Job Equivalents”
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Yet again, the government has eluded the ignorant.
Plug in golf carts will increase the energy draw on power plants, increasing the price of power to the consumer, and the ability for the insiders to make millions off the cap and trade bill which will pass next year.
Make no bones about it, it’s all about money and power, just like the health care bill which will be pushed through the gates before Christmas.
Obama’s thugs have taken over congress, and all we can do is sit and watch.
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