Cash For Clunkers To Check Out...For Real This Time

It was only a matter of time, especially after state automobile dealer associations began to end their participation in the program: Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood is expected to announce soon that the Cash for Clunkers program has run out of money, and that it will end -- and that all agreements made to date will be honored. This is one of those cases where the government literally could not get the money out of the Treasury fast enough... a lot of dealers are piling up IOUs, and while they will get paid eventually, they're facing short-term liquidity problems. Speaking on NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook, Lahood, like a good car salesman, said that "now's the time" to exchange your car, hinting that the program would be ending fairly soon.