Kalashnikovs for Clunkers: The Next Stimulus Plan

Max_Motors.jpg

In case you don’t qualify for the federal Cash-for-Clunkers rebate program, Mark Muller of Max Motors in Butler, Missouri, has an offer you might want to consider: get a free AK-47 with a new truck.

The dealer, whose motto is "God, Guns, Guts and American Pick-Up Trucks," one-upped himself from last year’s offer of pistols or petrol, and said that sales have doubled since the promotion started. He also had some choice social commentary in various interviews:

  • "There’s a bunch of evil in the world and people need to protect themselves."
  • "I’d personally like to have a sporting chance, instead of just becoming a victim."
  • "Without guns, we are subjects. With guns, we are citizens."
  • "The only 911 call I need is chamberering a round."

Fortunately you can’t just walk out of Max Motors with an AK; Muller provides you with a voucher for $450 redeemable at a local gun dealer, where you still have to go through a background check. Maybe I haven’t been to a gun show in a while, but doesn’t that seem like a lot of gun for so little coin?

No matter your moral leanings, you have to admit Muller’s plan is ingenious marketing, given that, outside of iPhones, guns are about the only thing selling well in this economy under this presidency. He has even given interviews to Al Jazeera, and Russia Today.

Two of the more entertaining interviews after the jump:

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

STREETSBLOG USA

GAO: Economic Recovery Benefits of ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Are ‘Uncertain’

|
"Cash for clunkers," the White House’s much-touted program encouraging trade-ins for more fuel-efficient autos, had an "uncertain" impact on economic recovery, according to a new audit from the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) — largely because it remains unclear how many of the car sales it spurred would have occurred without taxpayer subsidies. Were "clunker" […]
STREETSBLOG USA

Brookings: “Cash for Clunkers” Wasn’t Worth It

|
Turns out paying people to buy cars isn’t a great policy for the economy or the environment. That’s the determination of a pair of Brookings Institution researchers who evaluated the effectiveness of the 2009 Cash for Clunkers program. The $2.85 billion program, part of President Obama’s economic stimulus package, produced only 2,050 “job-years,” according to researchers […]

How to Judge “Cash for Clunkers”

|
(Photo: NYT) At this point, it’s difficult to know exactly what the government’s "cash for clunkers" program is supposed to accomplish. Claims about its economic and environmental benefits are increasingly detached from reality, and the chief advantage of the program would seem to be that it "worked," in the sense that it was popular among […]

As “Cash for Clunkers” Sputters, a Privately Funded Spinoff Picks Up

|
The U.S. DOT began signaling yesterday that it would bring the "cash for clunkers" program to an end amid growing unease from auto dealers about the government’s slow pace of reimbursement and General Motors’ decision to begin fronting "clunkers" repayments to its own salesmen. Photo: AmericaJR.com But with auto-industry forecasters predicting a cool 1 million […]