Kansas brings in $31,157,100 via ‘Cash For Clunkers’

Earlier this year, U.S. President Barack Obama instituted the CARS, or Car Allowance Rebate System, program, which was commonly known as the “Cash For Clunkers” initiative and paid people a subsidy if they traded their old vehicles in for newer, energy efficient cars.

This seemed like a great idea, except when you factor in two things: First, if the people need a subsidy to purchase these new cars, what is the likelihood they can afford the payments on them? Second, the car dealers had to destroy the vehicles if they were traded in as part of a “Clunkers” deal, which means many, quality used cars and trucks had to be destroyed, and the dealers all didn’t necessarily get paid right away for the participating in the program due to issues on the government’s end.

I could go on and on about my feelings of this program, but that’s not what this post is about today.

Instead, I wanted to share something cool I found online at PBS Newshour.

The Patchwork Nation part of the site, which is a reporting project aiming to keep a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the United States by looking different kinds of communities, has an awesome interactive map that shows how much money each county in the United States received via the “Clunkers” subsidy.

Here is a link to the map: Wealthy Counties Drive Off With ‘Clunker’ Subsidies

This is a great piece of reporting that breaks down data. I could eat up a lot of space and time on this blog talking about how cool I think it is, but for brevity’s sake, I’ll just say I love it.

I’ve spent a lot of time looking at it. I glanced at all the states, but I was most interested in Kansas.

How much money did the Sunflower State pull in from this program?

Below, I’ve broken down the numbers the map provided. I think this is pretty fascinating, and I hope you do too.

Kansas Clunker Cash

The states are listed from west to east.

Cheyenne: $0

Sherman: $43,000

Wallace: $0

Greeley: $0

Hamilton: $0

Stanton: $0

Morton: $0

Rawlins: $0

Thomas: $41,000

Logan: $20,500

Wichita: $0

Kearny: $0

Grant: $13,500

Stevens: $13,500

Scott: $29,500

Finney: $237,000

Haskell: $0

Seward: $106,600

Decatur: $0

Sheridan: $0

Gove: $0

Lane: $0

Gray: $0

Meade: $8,000

Norton: $0

Graham: $0

Trego: $0

Ness: $0

Hodgeman: $0

Ford: $668,500

Clark: $0

Phillips: $3,500

Rooks: $0

Ellis: $252,000

Rush: $0

Pawnee: $40,000

Edwards: $0

Kiowa: $9,000

Comanche: $0

Smith: $0

Osborne: $13,500

Russell: $0

Barton: $267,500

Stafford: $0

Pratt: $25,000

Barber: $7,000

Jewell: $0

Mitchell: $106,500

Lincoln: $0

Ellsworth: $0

Rice: $3,500

Reno: $1,334,000

Kingman: $19,500

Harper: $46,500

Republic: $21,500

Cloud: $33,000

Ottawa: $0

Saline: $362,500

McPherson: $198,000

Harvey: $63,500

Sedgwick: $8,729,000

Sumner: $42,000

Washington: $0

Clay: $103,000

Dickinson: $184,500

Marion: $62,500

Butler: $682,000

Cowley: $155,500

Marshall: $20,500

Riley: $1,020,000

Pottawatomie: $9,000

Geary: $313,000

Wabaunsee: $0

Morris: $15,000

Lyon: $391,000

Chase: $0

Greenwood: $0

Elk: $0

Chautauqua: $0

Nemaha: $52,000

Jackson: $97,500

Shawnee: $2,086,500

Osage: $13,500

Coffey: $3,500

Woodson: $0

Wilson: $0

Montgomery: $182,500

Brown: $0

Doniphan: $0

Atchison: $53,000

Jefferson: $0

Leavenworth: $393,500

Wyandotte: $479,000

Douglas: $1,309,000

Johnson: $9,391,000

Franklin: $30,500

Miami: $427,500

Anderson: $137,000

Linn: $13,500

Allen: $41,000

Bourbon: $276,500

Neosho: $102,000

Crawford: $50,000

Labette: $156,000

Cherokee: $148,000

TOTAL: $31,157,100

A Little Breakdown:

— Of Kansas’ 105 counties, 41 percent (43 counties) did not receive subsidy money. Of course, counties could only receive the money if the car was sold in that county by a dealer. Many of these 43 counties may not have car dealerships.

— There were six counties that received more than $1 million dollars. They are Johnson ($9,391,000), Sedgwick ($8,729,000), Shawnee ($2,086,500), Reno ($1,334,000), Douglas ($1,309,000) and Riley ($1,020,000).

— Western-Kansas counties were the ones that typically received little or no subsidy money. Primarily, the money was concentrated in the eastern portion of the state.

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