Word: cashed
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Turns out the terms may have been too rich. Cash for clunkers (the official name is Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save, a.k.a. CARS, but nobody calls it that) had customers scrambling to car dealerships in droves after it went live on July 27. Despite being in effect for only a few days, the program helped drive July auto sales to an annualized rate of 11.2 million vehicles, from just 9.7 million in June. In reaction, Wall Street economists have ratcheted up forecasts for third-quarter economic growth...
...over a week, the program ran through most of its $1 billion in funding. The House of Representatives quickly voted to allot an additional $2 billion. In the Senate, opposition from John McCain and other deficit hawks slowed passage but appeared unlikely to stop it. "I always thought that cash for clunkers would be an effective stimulus, but it seems to have exceeded expectations," says Princeton University economist Alan Blinder, an early booster of the idea. "It would be a shame to cut it off here...
...Cash-for-clunkers programs were first instituted at the state level in the early 1990s as a way to reduce automobile emissions. In a column in the New York Times last summer, Blinder suggested adapting these efforts into a national stimulus program. Then several European countries beat the U.S. to the punch...
...These cash-for-clunkers efforts appear to be working well as an economic stimulus, although they've lost some of their environmental benefit. Research has shown that the greenest (and most equitable) plans target the oldest gas guzzlers and allow consumers to spend the money however they want...
...Angeles Cruel and Unusual Prisons A panel of federal judges has ordered California to cut its prison population by more than a quarter, ruling that medical care in the overcrowded facilities is so poor that it violates convicts' constitutional rights. Over the next two years, the cash-strapped state must find a way to trim more than 40,000 inmates from its total of about 150,000 (the system is designed for 84,000). Attorney general Jerry Brown said he will appeal the 184-page order...