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Can someone explain this whole Davis-Bacon Act thing?

Atomic Dog

doesn't have a custom title yet.
Oct 22, 2002
1,207
1,340
In the basement at Weekly World News
Davis-Bacon Act

I only know about it from the blathering I've heard on talk radio. A quick search mostly turned up stuff from union websites, not really any news stories about it.

I don't really see any up sides to it. Would lowering wages increase opportunities to get projects done down in the Gulf region? In theory I guess. My cynical side tells me it's just more money in the pockets of the big contractors, though.

I found mention of a study that debunks the notion that the act inflates costs of construction projects, but it's by a nonprofit sponsored by labor unions.

I also came across this

This is a particularly choice quote:

In addition to opening up new opportunities in the construction industry for smaller construction firms and their employees, repeal of Davis-Bacon would also return common sense and sound budgeting to federal contracting which is now rife with political favoritism and cronyism.
Ya think?
 

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
I work daily with government construction contracts.

Yes, they do inflate construction costs and result in more money for the contractor doing the job.

I also own a construction business which does non-government work.

The price I pay for labor off base is much less (sometimes by 50%) than what we have to pay on base.