Conceived quickly, with insufficient review, and passed with much fanfare, the Clunkers program has been a huge success...on the surface. But some concerns are starting to leak out. A recent Denver Post News story, for instance, tells of multiple area car dealers who have submitted the paperwork (and it's copious-no bureaucratic short cuts there, not surprisingly) for literally hundreds of deals, while so far they have only been reimbursed for less than a handful.

It's such a big deal to these savvy private sector capitalists that they are writing into their contracts the option to take back the car if they don't get their money from the government. Who can blame them for wanting to get paid? Just a little detail the guys in D.C. might have missed. It doesn't take free enterprise long to figure out how to work around the chinks in any government programs armor.

If you've talked to anyone who has looked into the program you may already know that not every car is worthy of the moniker 'clunker' and not every new car is considered a qualified replacement. Just because your car is old, just because your replacement gets better mileage, there's no guarantee either will qualify. The government will decide if your clunker lives or dies, and likewise, they'll decide what kind of car is an environmentally friendly replacement.

Sure you're free to choose...but not on their dime. Forget the car of your dreams, or even just the one you really need. If you want the rebate, you better be buying politically correct cars. Well...good luck squeezing the kids, their soccer gear, the dog, and boxes of candy bars for the team fundraiser into the Prius. Your husband can take the Harley and meet you there.

Oh, and I sure hope you don't want to buy a used car, or have an older car that needs parts. They've all been crushed, and what escaped the crusher has, naturally, gone up in price. It's a little thing called supply and demand. Just one more line item the guys on the Hill neglected to consider.

Cash for Clunkers is just a 'tip of the iceberg' preview of what happens when government gets the notion that it can do things better than the private sector. But if this all sounds like a well conceived plan to you, you're going to love Nationalized Healthcare. It's the Titanic of all bureaucracies--like nothing America has seen in its entire history. You'll have more paperwork, less choice, greater expenses and Uncle Sam controlling your fate.

If you're starting to wonder if maybe this is all moving a little too fast, maybe we should take some time, review the options, read the fine print... then maybe you'd better stand up and say something. It's much easier to stop a ball before it rolls downhill than it is to push it all the way back up. Otherwise, feel free to put your life-and the lives of your loved ones-in someone else's hands. And I don't mean your doctor's. But you'd better count the lifeboats first, or you may go down with the ship. Just ask Canada.