By all accounts, the cash for clunkers program has been a huge success.  Never mind the fact that auto dealerships want nothing to do with the bureaucratic red tape and if at all possible will steer a customer toward conventional financing.  The fact of the matter is that it has been a real boost to the economy.

So who really has benefited from this program?

• Some consumers, who traded up from old gas guzzlers to spiffy new fuel-efficient models,
• Auto dealers, who were able to dump inventory and pay their financiers,
• Banks, who all of a sudden, had some new auto loan volume, with up to $4,500 down-payments,
• Auto companies, especially Ford, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, who led the pack in sales.  Conspicuously absent from

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