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Too bad they didn't have this program when I had a field-full of old LTD's and Mercury Marquis that I bought at the abandoned vehicle auctions for $25 and $40 apiece.

Of course, what some people will lose sight of is you have to spend money to get the "free" money. Taking the Ford Fusion, for example, you can get a stripper for around $20,000 or a Christmas Tree version with everything on it for $30,000. The 2010's bring a little more money than the new 2009's that are still available. The hybrid model costs more. So, at best you are looking at a $4,500 discount that you might be able to get anyway by bargaining - or waiting a little longer.

If you are going to be buying a new car soon anyway, you might as well take the $4,500 freebie. I don't think I would use the $4,500 as an excuse to buy a new car, however.

I wonder if the sales people are going to use the $4,500 freebie psychologically against the customers, for example, as a tool to resist bargaining down. I can hear it now, "We can't possibly sell the car to you for that price; lookit, you're already getting $4,500 free from the government to buy this car."

It will be interesting to see how many takers they have on this program. It's got a funding cap; I wonder if they'll reach it.

In a way, by giving these $4,500 freebies away, the government is using taxpayer money to prop up the the taxpayer public investment share in GM and Chrysler. When people use it for other makes, it's just money out the door.