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Dumb and dumber

June 10, 2009

The U.S. House has endorsed the "cash for clunkers" idea Congressman Bruce Braley of Waterloo proposed earlier this year.

"If you have a vehicle that gets less than 18 miles per gallon and you buy a new vehicle that has at least four miles per gallon of additional mileage economy, you are eligible for a $3500 voucher when you trade that vehicle in," Braley says. "If you get an increase in miles of gallon of at least 10 miles per gallon, you get a voucher for up to $4500."

So those of you who switched to an economy car long ago, now you might get to pay extra taxes to help that slug next door with the Hummer to buy a Prius. Chumps!

Dumber?

"There's something like 80 cities in the United States now trying to also build a streetcar system," said Brad Miller, general manager of the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART).

Among them is Des Moines, which is considering applying for federal transportation dollars to help fund a DART-run streetcar route through downtown that would cost $100 million.

So there is no better use in this country for $100 million than to tear up the streets from downtown to the East Village to install technology that has been obsolete for 70 years that at most will carry a few hundred people per day, and maybe a few dozen?

But we need to raise taxes, because the government couldn't possibly use your money any more wisely.

Both stories via Thebeanwalker.com