Why? Because, you see, used cars traded-in during the Cash-for-Clunkers program weren’t fixed up and resold. They were out-and-out destroyed in the name of saving the planet. End result? A restricted supply of used cars, and the more restricted the supply for an in-demand product the higher the cost. Sure enough…

Car buyers on average paid $1,800 more for a used vehicle in July than they paid a year ago at this time, according to Edmunds.com data. That’s a 10.3 percent increase, bringing the average cost of a 3-year-old vehicle to $19,248. The price of a Cadillac Escalade spiked nearly 36 percent. “A lack of confidence in the economy is driving more people to used cars, putting upward pricing pressure on a limited supply of vehicles,” said Joe Spina, a senior analyst for Edmunds.

There was and is a real demand for used cars, and that demand could be fulfilled fairly cheaply with a sudden surge of traded-in “clunkers”. Except that the Obama Administration had said “clunkers” destroyed in pursuit of being green. So prices are driven up significantly, and those most impacted are Americans who can’t afford a new car. In short, those who are less-than-wealthy.

As Ed Morrissey says, the result is this: The federal government spend $3 billion of your money to make vehicle ownership more expensive for the American middle class. Money well-spent? Hardly.