And You Want These People to Run Healthcare -- Part VII

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

How hard would it be to administer a program where people bring their "clunkers" to a car dealer and get "cash" to buy a new one.

The goal was for one million cars to be traded in. Sounds simple, right? Auto companies do cash rebates all the time. How hard can it be?

Well:

The White House said Thursday it was assessing its options amid concerns the $1 billion budget for rebates for new car sales may have been depleted. The program officially began last week and has been heavily publicized by automakers and dealers.

Transportation Department officials called lawmakers earlier Thursday to alert them of plans to suspend the program as early as Friday.

The feds completely under-estimated the demand and cost of the program, and now are scrambling to "try to find additional funding for the program" after only a week.

Alan Helfman, general manager of River Oaks Chrysler Jeep in Houston, said he was worried that the government wouldn't pay for some of his clunker deals.

Think about this when you hear Obama and the Democrats talk about health care. If they can't administer a program for one million people, how will they handle 300 million people's health care? If they underestimated their ability to fund a $1 billion program, how can they deal with a $1.5 trillion health care system?

"There's no doubt I'm going to get hammered on a deal or two," Helfman said.

Alan, there is a lot more of that coming if Obama gets his health plan through.