by Mathew Katz


If you have a clunker you want to trade in for cash, you better do it this weekend. The Obama administration announced last night that they'll be ending the popular 'Cash for Clunkers' program on Monday evening. The abrupt end comes after dealers complained of long delays in getting rebate money from the government. The administration needed to wind down the program in order to avoid going over their $3 billion budget. Overall, the program seems to have been a successful shot in the arm for the auto industry — it's generated over 457,000 auto sales so far, and caused some automakers to increase production.

Meanwhile, Starbucks, which has been hit hard by the recession and increased competition, announced that it has raised prices on frappuccinos, macchiatos, and other "complex" drinks by up to 30 cents in some cities. At the same time, they've decreased the price of more basic drinks by 5 to 15 cents each. You know there's something wrong anytime a seemingly-ubiquitous coffee giant makes a price change (and is closing down stores). Perhaps this American institution could use a bailout?

 

And Paul Krugman has an interesting column in this morning's New York Times slamming President Obama for disappointing progressives by using "kid gloves" when pursuing both banking and health care reform. He writes:

On the issue of health care itself, the inspiring figure progressives thought they had elected comes across, far too often, as a dry technocrat who talks of "bending the curve" but has only recently begun to make the moral case for reform. Mr. Obama's explanations of his plan have gotten clearer, but he still seems unable to settle on a simple, pithy formula; his speeches and op-eds still read as if they were written by a committee....

...I don't know if administration officials realize just how much damage they've done themselves with their kid-gloves treatment of the financial industry, just how badly the spectacle of government supported institutions paying giant bonuses is playing. But I've had many conversations with people who voted for Mr. Obama, yet dismiss the stimulus as a total waste of money. When I press them, it turns out that they're really angry about the bailouts rather than the stimulus — but that's a distinction lost on most voters.