In an effort to get gas-guzzling, air-polluting old cars off the road, Germany offered a “scrappage” incentive of $3,194 in January of this year. The program was also supposed to stimulate new-car sales.
Critics said it wouldn’t work because people would just buy used cars with the money. And the program would do little to reduce carbon emissions because making new cars creates emissions.
In February, however, new-car registrations in Germany were up by 21 percent. In the United States, new-car registrations were down by 41 percent.
California and Texas already have their own scrappage programs. Ford is lobbying for a nation-wide program in the United States.

Low mortgage interest rates are prompting a surge in refinancing. More than 85 percent of all mortgage activity in one recent week involved refinancing, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Because many lenders have reduced their staffs in the last couple of years, they are now lacking the manpower to quickly process refinancing requests.

Mortgage Master, a lender in the Northeast, will hire up to 200 people in the next year. They say that, at this time, 90 percent of their mortgages are refinancings.