| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fred Stone" |
| Date: |
13 Oct 2005 09:51:08 PM |
| Object: |
Davis-Bacon vs Supply and Demand |
http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=2740
(via Tim Worstall) Bob Herbert is angry at people who have the temerity
to believe free markets (capitalism! ha!) could be a good economic
system...
Mr. Bush is the standard-bearer par excellence of his party's
efforts to redistribute the bounty of the U.S. from the bottom up, not
the other way around. [...] One of the first things the president did in
the aftermath of Katrina was to poke his finger in the eyes of
struggling workers by suspending the requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act
in the storm-ravaged areas. Passed during the Great Depression, the law
requires contractors on federally funded construction projects to pay at
least the prevailing wage in the region.
This is one more way of taking money from the working poor and
handing it to the wealthy. A construction laborer in New Orleans who
would ordinarily be paid about $9 an hour, the prevailing wage in the
city, can now be paid less. So much for the president's commitment to
fighting poverty.
Where to start? Perhaps with Mickey Kaus's explanation: "Preserving
Davis-Bacon may endear Democrats to the AFL-CIO's construction unions,
but it's a slightly trickier case to make to voters—"Hey, this will
really slow rebuilding and make it way more expensive for taxpayers!""
Next, let's see how this is working out for the workers in Louisiana...
Despite reports that Louisiana workers are having to compete against
out-of-state workers for lower wages, a contractors association said
Tuesday that wages are in fact rising around the state because of the
demand for workers in the New Orleans area.
[...]
Ken Naquin of the Association of General Contractors said Tuesday
that workers in other parts of the state are walking off job sites
because they're being offered more money in southeast Louisiana.
"They're paying a premium above the Davis-Bacon Act and guaranteeing
overtime," Naquin said at a Tuesday panel organized by Kean Miller &
Associates. "There are jobs for anybody that wants to work."
And Mississippi:
Before Katrina the tight job market and Mississippi's traditional
low pay kept the offers hugging the minimum wage of $5.50 an hour, maybe
$6.50 on a good day. Today, with Katrina's mess visible on every block,
wages for an unskilled laborer begin at $8 and often run to $11 an hour.
Or Alabama:
Contractors are frustrated at not being able to find enough
qualified workers, according to Estes. "We had a huge shortage before
the hurricane," she said. "Most of our guys had a six- to eight-month
backlog of work." Many workers are taking jobs in Mississippi, where the
Federal Emergency Management Agency pays about $14 per hour for help
removing debris, and the casinos are offering higher wages to
contractors, trying to make sure that their facilities are up and
running as quickly as possible, builders said.
Advantage: Free Markets!
And finally, let's recall that back in 1993 a bill was submitted in an
attempt to raise the baseline requirement for Davis-Bacon implementation
from the current $2000 to "$100,000 for new construction".
That bill was sponsored by Senators....Kennedy and Feingold.
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
"The amount of violations of human rights in a country
is always an inverse function of the amount of complaints
about human rights violations heard from there.
The greater the number of complaints being aired,
the better protected are human rights in that country."
-- Daniel Patrick Moynihan
.
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| User: "turk" |
|
| Title: Re: Davis-Bacon vs Supply and Demand |
13 Oct 2005 10:06:25 PM |
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"Fred Stone" <fstone69@earthling.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96EEE893B34fstone69@213.155.197.138...
http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=2740
(via Tim Worstall) Bob Herbert is angry at people who have the temerity
to believe free markets (capitalism! ha!) could be a good economic
system...
Mr. Bush is the standard-bearer par excellence of his party's
efforts to redistribute the bounty of the U.S. from the bottom up, not
the other way around. [...] One of the first things the president did in
the aftermath of Katrina was to poke his finger in the eyes of
struggling workers by suspending the requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act
in the storm-ravaged areas. Passed during the Great Depression, the law
requires contractors on federally funded construction projects to pay at
least the prevailing wage in the region.
This is one more way of taking money from the working poor and
handing it to the wealthy. A construction laborer in New Orleans who
would ordinarily be paid about $9 an hour, the prevailing wage in the
city, can now be paid less. So much for the president's commitment to
fighting poverty.
Where to start? Perhaps with Mickey Kaus's explanation: "Preserving
Davis-Bacon may endear Democrats to the AFL-CIO's construction unions,
but it's a slightly trickier case to make to voters-"Hey, this will
really slow rebuilding and make it way more expensive for taxpayers!""
Real quick, Fred: where in the repealing of the Davis-Bacon laws does it
say that any savings the contractor might get from having prevailing wages
laws repealed must be passed on to the taxpayer? Please enlighten me.
Also, why is it that states that have prevailing wage laws actually get
public projects built for LESS cost to the taxpayer than those without
prevailing wage laws? Fact is, quality work done at prevailing wages means
less rebuilding, more accurate bids, safer structures, better craftsmanship,
and on and on. But you wouldn't bother to consider that because your lord
and savior GW just hasn't mentioned it.
I would say that flies right in the face of your whole "GW par excellence"
***** the poor even more when they are down and out garbage, doesn't it,
dumbass?
turk
--
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment
insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of
that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group,
of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few
Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from
other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."--President
Dwight Eisenhower, Republican November 8, 1954
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| User: "Katt" |
|
| Title: Re: Davis-Bacon vs Supply and Demand |
14 Oct 2005 04:10:20 AM |
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Hasn't it ever occurred to all you people who still waste time and energy on
Fred Stone's demented crapalanches that, for a daily and even hourly poster
to this n/g, he shows a quite astonishing lack of interest in atheism...?
Why don't you people wise up?
If you all just killfiled the stupid turd and ignored all his attempts to
get attention, then not only would you be better off, but also *he'd
eventually go and kill himself*....
Isn't that worth aiming for...?
Katt.
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| User: "Fred Stone" |
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| Title: Re: Davis-Bacon vs Supply and Demand |
14 Oct 2005 07:40:31 AM |
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"Katt" <kattt@t.com> wrote in
news:0CK3f.779$QP6.654@newsfe2-win.ntli.net:
Hasn't it ever occurred to all you people who still waste time and
energy on Fred Stone's demented crapalanches that, for a daily and
even hourly poster to this n/g, he shows a quite astonishing lack of
interest in atheism...?
Why don't you people wise up?
If you all just killfiled the stupid turd and ignored all his attempts
to get attention, then not only would you be better off, but also
*he'd eventually go and kill himself*....
Isn't that worth aiming for...?
My, that post really put a bug you *your* *****, didn't it?
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
"The amount of violations of human rights in a country
is always an inverse function of the amount of complaints
about human rights violations heard from there.
The greater the number of complaints being aired,
the better protected are human rights in that country."
-- Daniel Patrick Moynihan
.
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