Congress ought to apply the lemon law to itself for this beater.

After mercilessly pounding on U.S. car makers for failing to meet customer demand for fuel-efficient cars, senators have come around to the conclusion that demand doesn't exist right now. Earlier this month, they approved a "cash for clunkers" bill to provide cash vouchers for drivers who trade in their gas guzzlers.

Wasn't it just a few months ago that automakers came to the Bush and Obama administrations, begging for help to survive the sales doldrums? In exchange, they absorbed verbal beatdowns for focusing on bigger cars and trucks that nobody supposedly wanted. Top executives were booted out the door.

Hmmm, if Americans have this insatiable appetite for smaller vehicles with incredible gas mileage, why do they need to be paid to bring them home?

Consumers certainly are hurting just as much as Chrysler or General Motors, and this serves as something of a personal bailout for them. But they're not really the winners here.

Even a $4,500 voucher would leave them to come up with at least several thousand more in a bottomed-out economy. Plus, the vast majority of vehicles that would meet the criterion with less than 18 mpg are trucks, and many truck owners have a specific need for that type of vehicle.

The environment, too, has been credited as a victor in this legislation. Yet the benefits for clean air don't match the expense. Not when a paltry 2 mpg increase from an 8-cylinder 1984 gas hog will fetch a $3,500 voucher.

No, the clearest beneficiary is the auto industry. It's a short-term fix, the auto dealers say. Industry experts estimate this could prompt a quarter-million extra sales at U.S. dealerships by the end of the year.

The industry might have a sympathetic case in any other year. That is to say, any year that it's not already being propped up by billions in publicly funded loans.

This bill is far from the air freshener that sweetens the car-buying landscape for everyone involved. Really, it's just another way for taxpayers to choke on the exhaust of a burned-out industry.