Here’s a nice tidbit from Annaly that I came across today:
“For example, we addressed the Cash for Clunkers in our last commentary—a perfect microcosm of government market intervention. One month after its expiration, the program is now available for a post-mortem. Vehicle sales, after popping to an annualized rate of 11.25 million and 14.09 million in July and August, respectively, fell back to 9.20 million in September.
The conclusion? It was a one-off trade of current consumption at the expense of future consumption. While it may provide a bump to third quarter GDP, Cash for Clunkers had virtually zero long-term benefit and will likely hurt future car sales…”
http://www.annaly.com/mc/AnnalyCommentary1009.pdf
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