Recent figures on the true cost of the Cash for Clunkers program and the First-time Home Buyers Tax Credit program show they are costing the government a lot of money... Let me rephrase that: YOU, the American taxpayer, are getting pick-pocketed by the U.S. government, and they can't even do that efficiently.
To elaborate, the brilliant Cash-for-Clunkers program was intended to boost car sales and to get gas guzzlers off the road, which would be replaced by shiny new fuel-efficient vehicles. For every clunker you bring in, you get $4500 toward the price of a newer, more efficient car. In order to administrate this program, the government has to pay people. They can't work for free, right? So, for every car that was purchased under this program, the cost to the government (i.e. you and me), was $24,000. What a bargain, huh? So, 690,000 cars @ $24,000/ea = $16.56 billion. Every man, woman and child in the U.S. just committed $50.95 each to this magnificent success of a program, give or take a dime. Keep in mind, too, this isn't really the case, though, because no children actually pay taxes and not every man or woman pays taxes either. So, for the taxpaying American, that number goes up.
Now, let's discuss the First-time Home Buyers Tax Credit program. This piece of work promised that the government, (read: you), would essentially pay $8,000 to anyone who chooses to buy a home for the first time, including four-year-old children. So far, this program is costing the government $10.8 billion in lost taxes. The trickle-down comes to $33.23 for every man, woman, and child in America. I say "So far" because it's not over. This program has been so great that it's being expanded! I should note again that the cost per taxpayer is different than the cost per person within the borders of the United States.
What does this imply for the national deficit or the budget deficit? Well, that's a whole different story that will need to be addressed later. I will give you a preview: it's not good news.
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