Tom McClintock for Congress

Learning from Experience (NOT) - Cash for Caulkers Program

Since Cash for Caulkers is based on the Cash for Clunkers program maybe somebody ought to ask, How did that one work out? In fact, economists at Edmunds.com did exactly that. And they discovered that of the 690,000 cars sold under Cash for Clunkers, 565,000 sales would have happened anyway. That means that the taxpayers ended up paying $24,000 for every genuine sale it actually stimulated. It gets worse. All that the program accomplished was to entice people to move up their purchase decisions by a few months which then caused below-normal sales in the months that followed. In other words, Congress spent $4 billion creating a car bubble. With that fresh economic wreckage just months behind us, we are about to create a $6.6 billion home improvement bubble. We can now replace our Honk-if-youre-making-my-car-payments bumper stickers with Honk-if-youre-paying-for-my-home-remodeling. What will this actually accomplish? First, a lot of fraud. We already know that the Energy Star Program approved 15 out of 23 fake products that were submitted to them by the GAO, including a gasoline powered alarm clock. One can only imagine what home improvement scams taxpayers will fund from this one. Second, it will pay for a lot of remodeling that would have been done anyway. That was the expensive lesson of Cash for Clunkers. And third, it will pay for remodeling that makes no economic sense except for the rebate. After all, when remodeling actually saves money, people do it on their own. And if it doesnt save money why should taxpayers be forced to pay for it? Benjamin Franklin observed that experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other. This measure offers a sobering corollary: that there are some people who cannot even learn from experience. We call those people Congressmen.

Health Care Debate: Accepting Fundamental Absurdities

House Chamber, Washington, D.C. July 28, 2009. Mr. Speaker: In order to support the Democrats healthcare plan, we are asked to accept three arguments that are fundamentally absurd: First, that the same government that pioneered $400 hammers and $600 toilet seats is somehow going to control healthcare costs; Second, that the same government that runs FEMA is going to make our health care system more efficient and responsive; Third, that the same government that runs the IRS is going to make our healthcare more compassionate and understanding.

Rep. McClintock with Neil Cavuto

Rep. Tom McClintock on the Contradictions of Green Policy

Do No Harm