Health Care Reform and Cash For Clunkers are Conflicts of Opinion

Did some one mention "I saw the PA at the doctor's office today"?

Did you even realize that the person who treated you at Med Express or Urgent Care did not have Dr. before thier name badge on thier white lab coat? Was your care experience satisfactory or not? Did you know that the PA who saw you only owes the bank $100,000 for his/her schooling instead of the $300,000 of debt that an 8-10 year med student accumulates. Some quick math will tell you that the PA can work for less money, will be less stressed about how much he/she must make to service that student loan debt, and frankly, might be more like you when it comes to thinking about economical health care.

Check the parking lot at the doctors office next time you are there. If you are at the cardio thoracic surgeons office, I hope that he is driving a $75,000 Cadillac or Lexus that comes with a 10yr no maintenance service package, and free pickup of the vehicle when it needs service. I hope that the Doctor is making plenty of money to afford that Cadillac plus one for his/her spouse to drive as well. Why? I can't afford for the doctor to be late due to car trouble when I'm the one laying on the table having a heart attack. If his car has a dead battery at 4:00am he can jump in his spouses car to get to the hospital istead.

Now the last time I needed medical care I did not need to see the heart surgeon, I had a rash on my leg that I though could have been fungus or staph infection and I went to Med Express. The PA that I saw there, who said that the condition was eczema, was driving an 8 year old Jeep Cherokee instead of a Lexus or Cadillac. The medical care that I got was good enough to be serviceable, just like most of the 26,000 Jeep Cherokee's that were traded in on Cash For Clunkers. It got the job done, for the simple cost of an office visit that might have only been billed at 85% of the costs because I saw the PA.

It seams funny how on one side of the arguement we are getting rid of the workhorse Jeep Cherokees to replace them with the disposable vehicles that we make today. And on the other hand we are looking for Mid-Level workhorse medical practicioners to significantly contribute to health care reform as a less expensive alternative to the doctor. I'd rather have a 10 year old Jeep Cherokee because it might last 400,000 miles and never need to see the heart surgeon for an engine transplant, and the local handy mechanic (who is a dying breed), can change the brakes and service the belts and hoses just like the PA did for my rash when I was at Med-Express.

I'm OK with seeing the PA. I drive a Jeep Cherokee. I hope to be a millionaire by the time I retire... and since I dont think I'll ever retire, I'll be driving a Jeep Cherokee when I die and loving every mile of it. When I need to see the heart surgeon, I want the best one money can buy. Perhaps our economy would be a little better if we treated cars like we treat people if we try to keep them alive as long as possible an keeping mid level mechanics in business.

Cash for Clunkers Claims more than 30,000 Jeep Vehicles

The governments great cash for clunkers program that sparked the autmotive sector of the economy over the summer of 2009 claimed more than 30,000 Jeep Vehicles. Jeep's have often had a bad rap for being expensive to repair and not friendly on the road. As an individual who has had multiple Jeeps with a 3 in the left column on the speedometer, I find this as flawed logic, and I'm deeply saddend to see the 30,000 vehicles fall off the road with no hope of salvage for engines or Wrangler body tubs as the "unibody and frame" are two additional parts that could not be sold in conjunction with the engine.

See Stats Here for CFC Trade Ins
http://www.cars.gov/files/official-information/trade-in-vehicles.pdf


The thing that I find so shocking, and that makes me sad is that unlike Hyundai, Kia, Honda, and Ford, you can open a Jeep Specific catalog and order parts to build and entire Jeep. You cant do that with a Ford Tarus or Honda Civic. With Jeeps you can buy everything out of the catalog including the engine, frame and body tub. If one did buy all those parts, that newly custom built Jeep or refurbished old Jeep, is still a Jeep. It is still going to pollute, and it is still going to get poor mileage. In theory would it not be better to have recycled the engines, frames, and body tubs from the CFC Jeeps to keep from wasting energy and resources on new parts?





The whole concept with cash for clunkers was to remove vehicles from the road that were polluting vehicles, substituting them with new cleaner emissions, and more fuel efficient vehicles, all while sparking the economy. I'm not a statistical expert, but this is again also flawed logic. The guy who already wrecked and totaled his new car that he got by trading in his clunker is probably back driving a $5000 Clunker car now. So clunkers actually cost that one person to consume three cars. There is nothing environmentally friendly, efficient, or good about consuming three vehicles. Furthermore the poor people, or people who by choice want to drive a good vehicle for $3000 are very limited in used car selection right now, and will be for many years to come, because of the CFC program.





Take this example
This 1990 Jeep Comanche Pickup was clunkered. It appears to be fairly rust free, and it is a rare Eliminator Package. The stats on this vehicle from the salvage auction show that it was a 4.0 six cylinder, 5 speed, 4x4. Anyone who has owned or driven one of these trucks knows that this is a bad ass little truck. These trucks are getting scarce. There are plenty of them out there on the road in much worse shape than this one that the owners will keep running for many many more years. Personally I would have paid top dollar to buy this one as it appears to be in great shape. If some one would have owned this truck for the next 10 year and driven it another 100,000 miles to haul lumber, firewood, lanscaping supplies, kids sports equipment, fishing gear, or anything else that people haul in pickups, there would have been little or no effect on pollution vs a new Ford Ranger or Chevy Colorado. I'd almost bet that the two new trucks would cost more to maintain over the first 100,000 miles than this Comanche would have for miles 160,000 to 260,000.

We need to realize that if indeed we are going to live in a capitalist society that we need to let large companies like AIG, Chrysler, and Citi Bank fail if they can't be run properly. Our money in the bank is insured by the Federal Reserve, the same entity that printed the cash to pay the dealers for CFC program. While a government trade in program is a good idea, it should have come with sustainable economic principal behind it. Pay now, get cash refund at tax time later, give the cash to the end consumer who may chose to spend it to continue to support the economy. Giving that money to the car dealer, for the car trasaction, is not giving it to the end consumer. Our nation has been built by a strong bottom to the barrel. It supports those who are at the top. The problem is that we have gotten top heavy, sucking the life out of the support in the middle, and the bottom is quickly becoming worthless. Killing a Jeep Comanche with tons of life left in it only adds to sucking that life out of the middle and pushing people further down towards worthless.

Does anyone know how much of the scrap metal ASIA has bought from us that came from these clunkers? I'm sure I'll find out in a few years when I goto purchase a $150 microwave and it costs $500 because they own all the scrap.

2008 JK4 Rubicon AKA "Whitney"

There are a few good things that have been produced in the last 20 years. Among those good things was a concept vehicle called the Jeep Dakar, a TJ Wrangler based 4dr Jeep that ultimatly inspired the shape and design of the 2002 release of the Jeep Liberty. Why it over five more years to build a 4dr Wrangler is beyond even the most far out speculations that could have been envisioned. The 4dr Wrangler is selling more than 2-1 over the regular length version JK2 door.

When my wife and I started dating in 2005 we bought the "lil 05 se" that became a "Rubiclone" during our ownership. She loved that little Jeep. But she wanted something bigger, and of course I had the itch to own a JK4 Rubicon. We went shopping, and had seriously considered purchasing a JK4 Wrangler X "CON" package with the rear only locker and sway bar disco. By the time we added dual tops, tinted windows, and the S package that was required to get the lockers we were only about $2500 away from a Rubi. When they valued the trade in, and the knew 100% that it was a 4cyl Jeep with Rubicon tires and wheels, rocker guards, and "Rubiclone" decals, they showed us more than $3000 over what we paid for the Jeep 30,000 miles and 30 months earlier when we bought it.

We had to wait months for "Whitney" to get built and delivered as the supply demand issue was really screwed up in the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008 for Rubicon model JK's in any configuration. When it finally arrived, the dealership cleaned it, and tried to put it out on the lot for $5000 over sticker instead of calling us to tell us that it was in. I dont blame them for trying to make a buck but I dont get wool pulled over my eyes. I knew that it got delivered on Friday afternoon and we were there on Saturday at 11:00am to pick it up.

We signed the paperwork and ran before they could go pull the old deal when they sold us the 05 for $14,500 new and gave us $17,600 to trade it in.

We love this Jeep. Even with the minivan motor, it gets good gas mileage 17MPG average, and it is roomy enough to take the grandparents or business clients out to eat dinner in.

After getting rid of the 1990 YJ7 when I got my 2005 LJ Rubi there has been something missing in my heart. I guess it is kinda like breaking up with the first girl you ever dated... then the rest are just kinda another one along the way. There have been many many many SWB Jeeps that have been in my life for a brief period of time since geting rid of the YJ7. This 1986 CJ was one of those Jeep. I had been out scouring the countryside for abandon/parked CJ8's to salvage or part out when I came across this CJ. It was in great condition except for one thing, the exterior skins of the body tub had been bondo repaired at one point in time and they were falling apart. The floor, frame, tailgate, front clip, engine compartment, suspension, was all in excellent to near perfect condition. I replaced the side skins, and painted them to match, bead blasted the black paint off the factory rocker guards, installed a set of Z-Racing wheels from Sears for $250, and four BFG AT's. The Jeep had come with a hard top on it and full doors on it. I sold them, and installed a YJ version Bestop that I already had with the black fabric doors. This was a fun Jeep to own, but in the fall of 2008 my fiance and I made the decision to go back to one house so this Jeep had to go. I miss it. I'll probably never own another CJ that is as clean as that one was, but I made about $3000 on the whole deal, because I bought the Jeep for $1500 and sold it for $6000 after the work, tires, wheels, top, etc.

1987 Jeep MJ Comanche LWB

With my origional 1989 Jeep Comanche in not running condition when I bought my first home in 2005, I was using my nearly not running 1976 model utility trailer to haul lumber and other home improvement items around.

I had the itch for getting another Comanche, but even way back in 2005 they were hard to come by. In 2006 the house next to me got sold, and the people who moved in always had house guests. One of thier house guests was an older man who always had a different junker (and I think he wrecked each of them drunk driving)

He showed up one day in this Maroon MJ and immediatly I went outside to look. It was in pretty good shape, and he started telling me about how he got it, and that it only had 39,000 origional miles. I immediatly begged him to sell it to me, and a few weeks later on a Friday when he needed drinking money for the weekend the truck became mine.

When I got it, the left spring seat on the front D30 was rusted pretty good, the shock mount was broke off, the radiator was leaking, and the engine was very greasy and dirty. The first weekend I cleaned and buffed the entire exterior, waxed the Jeep, pulled the rubber floor liner and seat, cleaned any and all surface rust off the floor and POR15 coated it. I got a new windshield installed, and got rid of the mismatched 235x75 and 235x70 15's and put on some Walmart Wranglers on a set of black steel wheels.

A later project included an Open Rad conversion, and I pulled the valve cover and oil pan and completly cleaned out any and all material. The oil pan got replaced with a new one, and the valve cover got hot tanked and re-installed with 2 new vacume harness pieces, and a new PCV valve. I also replaced the rubber fuel lines and the fuel filter.

I also installed a Sprayed on Truck Bedliner in the bed, and picked up a good fiberglass truck cap for $50 from the bone yard.

I drove the Jeep that way for nearly 2 years (with the busted front axle)

In the fall of 2007 I sent the Jeep off to Western Area Career and Technology Center for an overhaul of sorts. While it was there it got new brakes, 1995 model D30 front, new wheel joints, ball joints, brake calipers, brake lines, rotors, brake shoes, wheel cylinders, drums, drive line joints, down pipe, muffler, tailpipe, factory catalytic converter, all fluids changed in all gear boxes, a new water pump, new power steering pump, new auxillary tranny cooler, ARB Bull Bar, 2" lift coils, rear AAL's, and repairs to the mechanical latches on the tailgate.

The students did excellent work on the Jeep in 2007, so good infact that the Jeep went back to the school in the fall of 2009 for an exhaust manifold job, a Kevins Offroad Track Bar Coversion, and a dash gauge cluster swap to get rid of the idiot lights.

Getting the MJ back from the Vo-Tech school this time has been awesome. No leaky manifold means excellent horsepower. No loose track bar means that the Jeep drives really awesome, and I was sick of the idiot lights on the old dash.

Next is going to be some body repair work, a Winch, and an electric OBA setup.

1990 YJ7

After driving the 1989 Jeep Comanche for about three years I was bitten by the bug to drive a Wrangler with no doors. I dont know exactly where the euphoria or motivation of thought comes from, but and old girl friend of mine once said that for her, "driving a Jeep filled a need" that she once thought she would need to ride a motorcycle to fulfill.

The 1990 YJ7 started as a burned 1990 YJ, that donated it's frame, axles, and body to the project. The 1978 CJ7 donated its Dana 300 Case for a flip job and both 258CID engine blocks were turned in for exchange on a first quality remanufactured engine. The 1990 donated most of its wiring, but a John Nutter bypass was performed and all smog equipment was removed. I utilized a 999 auto tranny, and a Jeep XJ Cherokee Dana 44 rear end to complete this project.

When I started this project it was about building a great looking, great running, and very capable Jeep for about $5000. I was very successful with this as the total project ended up running about $6500. The CJ front clip had a tree fall on it before it went to the body shop so I had to settle on the YJ Wrangler front clip. I put 50,000 miles on this Jeep, took it to the beach several times, and took it to New England once during the winter for a great ski trip.

All in all this Wrangler was great fun. When the 2005 LJ Rubicon was produced, I had no choice but to get rid of this Jeep. I made several attempts to sell it outright, but the YJ front clip presented a problem when showing a 1978 clean title.

I ended up trading this Jeep in at Fair Oaks (now Chantilly) Chrysler Jeep on the 2005 LJ Rubicon. They gave me $4500 for it, and put a snow plow onto it and used it for at least 2 winters. The last time that I was at the dealership in 2007 the Jeep was no longer sitting in the back of the lot so I dont know where it is today. Since I got the 2005 way under invoice and kept all rebates and incentives, half the hold back, and traded a 1998 XJ that they gave me $1000 more than I paid for it a year earlier without ever seeing the Jeep. (it had a shoddy bop repair job from hitting a deer, a broken windshield, the alloy wheels and BFG ATKO's removed and replaced with rusty steel wheels and bad tires, and the factory CD player swapped with a regular radio, and 40,000 more miles on it than when I bought it) this was the best deal I ever made.

Sad to see this Jeep go, some times I miss the old square headlights, and the memories of working with my grandfather while building it were a ton of fun. However the lime green LJ Rubicon that replaced it is 1000% more Jeep that this could ever be.