It has been widely noted that the cash for clunkers program is an example of Bastiat’s broken windows fallacy. Less widely noted is that it is also a middle class welfare program. If I got $4500 for my old car, and bought a $25,000 new car, I’d still owe $20,000. People below the middle class don’t pay $20,000 for a car–they buy used cars. Heck, I’m middle class and even I don’t buy new cars. The last new car I ever bought was my Subaru forester, 10 years ago, and I’ll probably never do so a