The Wall Street Journal is running an article with some numbers from the “Cash For Clunkers” (/CARS) stimulus program. Here is an excerpt:

Burton Abrams and George Parsons of the University of Delaware added up the total benefits from reduced gas consumption, environmental improvements and the benefit to car buyers and companies, minus the overall cost of cash for clunkers, and found a net cost of roughly $2,000 per vehicle. Rather than stimulating the economy, the program made the nation as a whole $1.4 billion poorer.

Ouch.