Car wars

As the country waits to see how Obama Motors fares, Democrats in Congress provided another hint this week as to how they plan to get Americans to actually buy the teeny-tiny electric box cars they so admire -- barring the return of $5 a gallon gasoline.

They'll simply bribe them with other people's money.

On Tuesday, the House passed a dry run of what will certainly be the first of many efforts to use federal incentives to force drivers out of their sports cars, sedans or SUVs and into the types of "green" vehicles that government regulators will soon demand be manufactured by our nationalized auto industry.

The so-called "cash for clunkers" bill was approved 298-119 and would provide consumers with vouchers of up to $4,500 to trade in older cars or trucks and purchase more fuel efficient vehicles.

The amount of money handed out would vary depending on the difference in gas mileage between the older vehicle and the new one. The older vehicle would then be crushed or shredded to get it off the road.

Expect a shady cottage industry to sprout up around the purchase and re-sale of old beaters in order to get a piece of the $4 billion this measure is expected to cost.

The program, of course, is more than just an effort to appease the environmental lobby. It's also straight welfare for Detroit. "Stimulating sales is the only way to get the auto industry back on its feet," said Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill.

But his colleague, Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., disagreed. "It's defying the laws of economics and saying we can manufacture enough of a demand to keep the auto industry afloat," he said.

Regardless, this is precisely the approach that congressional Democrats and the Obama administration will take in the future when trying to artificially "manufacture enough of a demand" for the small electric or hybrid vehicles they seek to impose on drivers. Whether it's a mix of direct or indirect subsidies, changes in the tax code or other regulatory directives, expect the "cash for clunkers" program to be just the beginning, no matter whether it actually works.