D-B Act is a handout to unions, slap to minorities

Reposted after accidental deletion...

Bush administration suspends Davis-Bacon Act for hurricane stricken areas of Gulf Coast.This is the headline that has gotten Matt Jackson's shorts in a bunch. His support for an obviously racist originated law contradicts his alledged support for the downtrodden victims of the hurricane. If he would like to pay higher taxes to support his allies, the labor unions, more power to him. Pay as much as you like, Matt. As a taxpayer myself, I prefer to get more for my tax dollars than a handout to the AFL-CIO and other union organizations.
Workers are hurt several ways by Davis-Bacon.For example, the Davis-Bacon Act prohibits the use of `helpers' on federally funded projects.`Helpers' are widely used on private sector projects, and gain well-paying jobs and precious experience and skills. As the Association of Builders and Contractors points out: `It provides a career path with no limits where they can progress from field worker, to supervisor, to front office, and ultimately even company ownership.' Davis-Bacon also slows down and raises costs of projects by not allowing for employees to `multi-skill.' That is, if an individual is a carpenter and electrician, he or she can only perform one of those jobs on a project, as noted by the builders and contractors group. This is grossly inefficient, and an obvious sop to labor unions.http://www.sbecouncil.org/FactOfWeek.asp?FormMode=Call&LinkType=Text&ID=361

...Minority contractors will find it easier to get federal contracts without divisive quotas, black workers will find it easier to get construction jobs, and the federal government will be able to accomplish more with a smaller burden on the taxpayer...http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-017.html

Walter Williams wrote in 2003...If the Davis-Bacon Act requires that any worker handling a hammer and a nail, for example, be paid $25 an hour, no contractor in his right mind is going to hire a worker with $10 an hour skills and pay him $25. Any minimum wage law tends to discriminate against the employment of low-skilled works; the Davis-Bacon Act is simply a super-minimum wage.
Summary of Walter Williams' article: The Davis-Bacon Act is a federal law that mandates that a prevailing wage be paid on all federally financed or assisted construction projects. The secretary of labor illegally sets the "prevailing wage" at the union wage or higher, regardless of what the average wage is in the affected locality. The effect of the Davis-Bacon Act is that of discriminating against contractor employment of non-union and lower skilled workers.http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3357
As I pointed out in a response to MJ on BlogDecatur, the haves are the ones who benefit from Davis-Bacon. The have-nots get locked out. President Bush was absolutely correct in his action. Minorities will benefit from employment they might not have otherwise had, and taxpayers will get more construction and rebuilding for the money.