PrintAugust 21, 2009
The National Car-Lotto
I want to be the car czar. Firstly, I like the rhyme. But I also have a plan that will put cash-for-clunkers to shame: a national car lottery.
Here's how the National Car-Lotto works: $1 tickets are sold nationwide every week. We take the average price of every model sold by GM, Ford, and Chrysler-say that is $25,000, with taxes, tag, dealer fees and extended warranties included. For every 25,000 tickets sold, one lucky winner gets the American-made car of his or her choice with all the additional fees covered and no tax liability until they sell or trade their win.
With an advertising blitz on radio, TV, newspapers and the web, our big three could raffle off thousands of cars every week-30,000 cars is a reasonable goal, each one paid in full upfront with the lotto money.
Everybody wins! Consumers get the car of their choice-a youngster in school might want a Ford Focus, someone else a Chrysler Sebring convertible, a family of five, a GM Hybrid Yukon. Regardless, each car comes fully loaded! The American public-not the White House-decides which manufacturers survive and thrive. The dealerships come out on top, too, as the full sticker sales commission is divided amongst their sales force.
Best of all, many car-lotto winners will be people who drive, but aren't in the market to purchase a new car or truck, much as they'd love to. Millions of people who can't afford to purchase a new car but can afford to run a vehicle will purchase car-lotto raffle tickets, whether they own a gas guzzling clunker or not! The odds of winning a fully loaded, state-of-the-art car-25,000 to 1-are way better then winning the lotto!
GM will have one million Volts pre-sold before the first one rolls off the line. We could even start a high-end two-dollar ticket and include Silicon Valley's all-electric Tesla.
Those people who are planning on a new car aren't going to hold off until they win one in the car-lotto; especially with their neighbor's lotto winner gleaming next door. In a tight world market, our auto industry will survive long term from the good faith of the car-lotto raffle ticket purchasing public.
The used-to-be Big Three can pay my car czar wages and cover the TV ads. The lotto people can administer the daily raffle.
We should move on this and give our car industry a chance to renegotiate fresh rolls in a permanently altered world e con oh me. I want to be the car czar guy in the ads exhorting everyone to purchase their car-lotto raffle ticket, the industry's Car Czar-selling a chance far more likely than winning the Lotto or getting on American Idol.
That way, when I run for president, from being in all the ads, every buddy will recognize me. Sad, when it comes to politics, in today's bureaucratic world there isn't any room for innovation. With all the status quo egos blocking the way, it's difficult to even foist an original idea into play, much less myself on the table, though millions of jobs will be secured from this old fashioned lotto-raffle.
Micahel S. Levinson blogs at michaelslevinson.com
