Kinda makes you wonder why such language wasn't included in the bill, doesn't it? If it's so logical to us, why not those in Congress who created and passed the bill?

This is a bit like the legislation which is being considered by Congress--actually it may already have been passed--that exempts vehicle models whose sales are less than 400,000 per year from inclusion in the "average fleet mileage" calculation required in the new CAFE standards bill passed a number of months ago. The bill is known as "the German Provision" among the lobbyists in Washington. The practical effect of this amendment is that Mercedes and BMW can sell all the 13 mpg sedans they would like; Porsche, Maserati and the other sports car makers can sell all the 500 horsepower speedsters that get only 10 miles per gallon that they'd like; even the new owner of Hummer can sell all of those beasts they'd like--all so long as they don't sell more than 400,000 of them. None of those models need be included in the calculation of average fleet mileage prescribed by the CAFE standards law. Read the maddening blog posting describing the bill at http://www.autoextremist.com/

Those who follow these things in Detroit know that this week's legislation was the product of a couple of lobbyists for the foreign car companies and their U.S. dealers "getting to" enough Congress members to get the new bill passed.

Just per chance--do you think there might be some lobbyists might have gotten inside the language of the cash for clunkers bill so that their foreign OEM clients could benefit, just like their U.S. competitors, even though the money comes out of the pockets of U.S. taxpayers?

Just wondering.