I'd like to apologize to my readers for spreading rumors about the "Cash for Clunkers" program in an earlier post yesterday.  In that post, I disparaged the program, saying that it had resulted mostly in American made cars being turned in for high fuel mileage foreign cars.  This was incorrect:

What are people trading their clunkers in for? It depends on who you ask.

The government's results showed small cars as the top choice for shoppers looking for Cash for Clunker deals. But an independent analysis by Edmunds.com disputed those results, and showed that two full-size trucks and a small crossover SUV were actually among the top-ten buys.

The discrepancy is a result of the methods used. Edmunds.com uses traditional sales measurements, tallying sales by make and model. The government uses a more arcane measurement method that subdivides models according to engine and transmission types, counting them as separate models.
...
In the Cash for Clunkers program, trucks are actually subject to lower fuel economy requirements than cars, so it surprised many analysts that trucks weren't more popular.

In my defense, it was only incorrect because of shady statistical reporting by the government (who would've thought).  So instead of Americans turning in inefficient trucks and SUV's and buying efficient foreign cars, they were turning in inefficient trucks and SUV's and buying newer inefficient trucks and SUV's.  And when President Obama says that GM needs to retool and begin to create vehicles for the future that Americans really want to buy... perhaps GM wasn't all that wrong in that Americans still really want to buy big vehicles that guzzle more gas.

Once again, my most sincere apologies.