Punishing Doers of Good Deeds

It's a good thing that good people do good things for reasons other than monetary reward or other personal gain because, as the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Okay, maybe that is a little extra cynical, but the current federal "Cash For Clunkers" program sure does seem to prove that old adage. It might be better framed, in this case, as "No bad deed goes unrewarded."

What the Cash For Clunkers program does is reward people -- to the tune of $4500 -- for past car-buying behavior that hurts the environment (and other aspects of life in the real world). If you have previously lacked the intelligence or common sense or compassion or sense of responsibility to buy a car that gets decent fuel mileage, you can now get a cash reward for that behavior. Positive reinforcement for negative behavior. It's like giving the well-behaved kids in a rowdy classroom detention while the bad kids go for ice cream.

Of course, we live in the real world, where Pavlovian behavioral patterns have to be accepted as a real part of the animal nature of humans. Evolution has built our brains in layers, from primitive to advanced, and those primitive parts run the show in many (probably most) humans. So you need to have doggie-bone-like rewards if you want people to behave well. Ring-ring!

Our two cars don't qualify for the trade-in cash reward, although they would qualify as cars to buy under this program. Damn.

For those of you driving high-MPG cars: Try not to get pissed off or too angry as the federal government gives your tax dollars (borrowed from foreigners until you or your kids or grandkids can afford to pay up) to people who are not as responsible as you. Take some solace in the fact that you are ahead of the curve and perhaps a little less Neanderthal than many folks.

Here's the web site for the program: http://www.cashforclunkers.com/index.htm