The Biden Administration Is Ignoring How Its Policies Will Worsen Inflation. Again.

[Kamaji]

The Biden Administration Is Ignoring How Its Policies Will Worsen Inflation. Again.

In the 1980s, the Reagan administration made changes to the Davis-Bacon Act to help control inflation. The Labor Department is planning to undo them.

By ERIC BOEHM
3.23.2022

Despite inflation running at a 40-year high, the Biden administration is pushing ahead with plans to hike wages for federal contractors—effectively undoing a Reagan-era policy that was implemented to help curb inflation.

In a notice published on March 18, the Department of Labor announced that it would begin the process of updating its interpretation of the Davis-Bacon Act, the 1931 federal law requiring that so-called "prevailing wages" be paid to government contractors. The law essentially sets a price floor by forbidding would-be contractors from competing for government contracts by undercutting wages, and the unsurprising result is that artificially higher wages are typically paid. Labor unions, in particular, are big fans of Davis-Bacon because it helps limit competition from non-union shops for public works projects—and has historically been used to disadvantage black and minority workers.

The Labor Department says this will be the first significant rewrite of Davis-Bacon regulations in 40 years. The change also comes at a time when the federal government is preparing to dole out more than $500 billion in new funding for public works projects after last year's passage of Biden's bipartisan infrastructure package.

But the primary change proposed by the Labor Department would both worsen inflation and result in fewer infrastructure projects being funded, according to Dan Bosch, director of regulatory policy for the American Action Forum, a free market think tank.

Here's why: Back in 1982, the Department of Labor amended the Davis-Bacon regulations to remove the so-called "30 percent rule" that said the prevailing wage for any particular area would be based on the highest wages in that area, as long as they were paid to at least 30 percent of workers.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2022/03/23/the-biden-administration-is-ignoring-how-its-policies-will-worsen-inflation-again/

[LMAO]

Another Biden  administration idea that’s worth several of these

 

[catfish1957]

This thing can be fixed, but it won't be done  easily.  What I am suggesting could  make the U.S. a top economic power for at least a  century.....

1. Kick GND shit to the curb, and uncouple the Biden disaster around energy independence.  Open the spigots wide open, and become a world leader of energy production. Watch the federal coffers fill.....  and fast.  Not to mention watch Putin wither in a sea of debt and despair.

2. Cut all unneccsary federal expenses, especially those with redundant state or local services.  I honestly believe our government can operate without impact even iniatially at 60-65% of present spending.

3. Choose an arbitrary base line of Fed debt, and mandate no addtional federal debt will be incurred. Force Fedzilla to live on a budget, like normal people.

4. Improve our education systems at all levels in a matter that does not focus, on woke, but on STEM areas to foster, and encourage innovation in our young.  Reward, and not entitle good hard work for good wages.  Reward on performance and not on demographic distributons.

5. In a new era of prosperty, return our fiduciary and currency back to a precious metal backed standard.

6. Rerverse social reforms to not make it easy to be an entitlement slug in this country.   Back in the '30's....  If you didn't work, you went hungry.

And this is just a start.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

This thing can be fixed, but it won't be done  easily.  What I am suggesting could  make the U.S. a top economic power for at least a  century.....

1. Kick GND shit to the curb, and uncouple the Biden disaster around energy independence.  Open the spigots wide open, and become a world leader of energy production. Watch the federal coffers fill.....  and fast.  Not to mention watch Putin wither in a sea of debt and despair.

  Not to mention the wealth created for American companies, landowners, states and. yes, the federal government, and lots and lots of jobs.

2. Cut all unneccsary federal expenses, especially those with redundant state or local services.  I honestly believe our government can operate without impact even iniatially at 60-65% of present spending.

3. Choose an arbitrary base line of Fed debt, and mandate no addtional federal debt will be incurred. Force Fedzilla to live on a budget, like normal people.

Even better, do a bottom up scrutiny of every item on the federal budget, eliminating overlapping responsibilities and agencies who have worn out their usage.

I worked in the late 60s and early 70s for an LBJ-created federal agency called the Economic Development Agency under the Department of Commerce.   It was created to get money to poorer public organizations like Indian groups and towns for things like water supply and septics.

That old agency is tiny in comparison to many other federal groups who do the same thing.  But it still exists.

Get rid of it and those like it as the bureaucracy to cover it eats up a lot at the trough of public welfare.

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