The dealer, in return for a no-profit transaction, would receive a fee for prep and paperwork but it would have to be reasonable, perhaps two or three hundred dollars. An idle salesperson could be provided to explain the features and benefits of each unit, spread the good word about the dealership and the manufacturer and deliver the car.
The compassionate organization would split the proceeds with the national fund. If they raised forty thousand, they would keep twenty. In this way, hundreds of millions of dollars could be raised for innumerable good causes. In some cases, less than the cost of the vehicle would be recouped through tickets sales.
The lottery fund would approve disbursements for vehicles in a completely fair and open way. If some state, say Alabama, should have four percent of our population, then they would get four thousand cars to auction off. No exceptions for any reason should be allowed.
Of course, not every group will be able to sell enough tickets to both cover the price of acquisition and their half--twice the vehicle value. In such cases, the national fund would be depleted. However, the amount depleted would be a charitable deduction for the donor. In this way, and only this way, the government would exercise its proper role of subsidizing good works rather than taking over industry.
One hundred thousand vehicles won't turn around Detroit, but it would help. Remember, a recession may be nothing more than the difference of growing one or two percent a year, and shrinking by that same amount. Think of all the silly ways we waste a five-spot, and how much good that small bit of change could do if we pooled it together freely and with no coercion, no new taxes, and no government controls.
But most of all think of how much fun it would be!
If you like this idea, tell somebody. Forward it to your "representatives"-. Chat it up at the water-cooler, drop it in the collection box and for heaven's sake don't rely on partisans to get it done!
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
