Your tax money at work

WASHINGTON - The most common deals under the government's $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program, aimed at putting more fuel-efficient cars on the road, replaced old Ford or Chevrolet pickups with new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by the Associated Press.

The single most common swap -- which occurred more than 8,200 times -- involved Ford 150 pickup owners who took advantage of a government rebate to trade their old trucks for new Ford 150s... The fuel economy for the new trucks ranged from 15 mpg to 17 mpg based on engine size and other factors, an improvement of just 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the clunkers...

You can read the rest of the story at the StarTribune. This program was a temporary bailout of the auto companies, and anyone who views the improvement in Ford's most recent quarterly earnings as a signal of an sea change in the national economy needs to take off their rose-colored glasses.