So, it’s over.  The Government spends 3 billion dollars, which probably means more than 700,000 cars (at least) purchased for an industry that needed a boost.

How about a thank you?

First, here’s the final wrap up of the whole thing – warts and all.

WASHINGTON – The Transportation Department extended the deadline Monday for auto dealers to submit their Cash for Clunkers deals, giving them more time to make sure they get repaid under the popular $3 billion government rebate program.

Dealers now have until noon on Tuesday to submit the necessary paperwork, after the deadline was pushed back from 8 p.m. EDT Monday. All sales under the program were still scheduled to end Monday evening.

The change came after government computers set up to handle the filings buckled under a flood of dealers trying to send in their sales agreements at the last minute. Under the original plan, those deals that weren’t submitted on time wouldn’t be repaid, leaving many dealers fearful that they would be left on the hook for clunker sales they made.

“The computer system has been down or very slow for most of this day, and we literally have thousands of dealers with probably millions of deals that they would like to submit and just have been unable to,” said Michael Harrington, chief legislative counsel for the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Computer problems have plagued the program, as it proved far more popular than government officials expected. A rush of filings also bombarded the online system earlier this month when it appeared the first $1 billion Congress set aside would run out just days after sales began. Transportation officials later expanded its computer network capacity and tripled the number of staffers working on the program.

The big rush of filings on Monday, however, shut down the filing system temporarily, prompting auto dealers to push for an extension.

“We’ve spent the better part of the last three days trying to hack our way into their computer program that has been down more than it’s been up,” said Alan Starling, who owns two General Motors dealerships in central Florida. His staff was still trying to submit all the paperwork for 75 deals through the clunkers program.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, speaking to reporters in Norristown, Pa., earlier in the day, said the program was an unprecedented success and a boon for car dealers, automakers, scrap yards and financial institutions. He estimated that by the sales deadline later Monday, “there will be 700,000 to 800,000 cars that have been sold, most of them fuel efficient,” replacing gas-guzzling cars and trucks.

Transportation officials said that, through early Monday, dealers had submitted 625,000 vouchers totaling $2.58 billion. Many car dealerships have worked overnight in recent days to submit the 13-page application to be reimbursed for the trade-in vehicle, including the title, proof of registration and proof of insurance.

Dealers have only received a fraction of the reimbursement funding. Through last Thursday, the most recent data available, the Transportation Department had reviewed and processed more than 150,000 reimbursement applications and approved $140 million in payments to dealers. At the time, DOT had processed about 30 percent of all the applications they had received.

Cash for Clunkers has been wildly successful in spurring new-car sales and getting gas-guzzling models off the road, though some energy experts have said the pollution reduction is too small to be cost-effective. Customers receive rebates of between $3,500 and $4,500, depending on the improvement in fuel efficiencyfrom their old vehicle to their new one.

It baffles me that some on the right hated this program.  For the price of a handful of useless planes that the airforce didn’t want, we did the following:

• Got at least 600,000 people to open up their wallets and spend in the midst of a recession.
• Make a big purchase, which trickles down into the dealership, the neighborhoods around that dealership, the scrap yards around that dealership and then trickles all the way down to the factories that make those cars, sell parts, sell radios… you name it.  Remember – foreign or not, many of these cars – and the factories that make their parts – are based in the U.S.
• States and towns make money on taxes, and license fees.  Banks – which have been taking a drubbing – are suddenly loaning money again.  The economy starts to grind into motion, even for a little bit.
• Places better cars on the road.  Look, even one or two miles per gallon matters – let alone the three, five or whatever some people are getting.  Every little bit helps.
• And perhaps it helps mood.  You look at your neighbor, see he’s got a new car… maybe you get yourself a scooter.  Or a TV.  Or a puppy.

Someone that might be able to afford a new car, that might not have bought one otherwise, probably did because of this opportunity.  And the prices of these cars – these were cars that worked for people from the lower end of the economic spectrum up to middle.  The car could not cost more than $45,000.  This was not a program for the elite.  Of course, enemies of the current administration needed to pee on it, even though, in it’s weird way, it’s trickle down economics.

So, kudos to the administration for a good idea which, while it could have been executed better, did some good.  Got some things going.  Made things better and, for at least 600,000+ Americans, made them feel better about the state of their own personal economy and situation.

I’m sure there are those who despise Obama, but took advantage of the program anyway.  Or are bemoaning the fact that they didn’t get it in time, even though they hate him.

Well, you’re a hypocrite – a Clunker against Cash for Clunkers.  Maybe you just didn’t want to get rid of that car that still has the Bush/Quayle sticker on it.  How would I know?

10% of the stimulus money has been unleashed and, judging by the DOW and Clunkers, some good is being done.  It’s time to let lose the rest of it in whatever innovative, out-of-the-box ways the government can do without obstructionist asshats like Cantor and McCain doing what they can to try to jam Obama into the failure box.

Want to know why they oppose Health Care?  Because if it’s as successful as “Clunkers,” they know they’ll have a hell of a time justifying a return to power in 2010 and 2012, no matter how much Sarah Palin shrieks or John Boehner face glows like Rudolph’s nose.

Could it have been executed better?  Probably.

But the alternative – the one the right puts up for everything – to do nothing… would have been much worse.

Remember that in the following months, with every debate that comes down the pike.  Unemployment is the next thing that needs to be tackled – and that’s going to mean money, shovel-ready jobs, and smart, innovative programs that will be attacked from the moment they are proposed.

Well, good luck.

Because this one worked, no matter how hard the other side is going to try to spin it.