infobong.com

Talking Points Memo has posted a portion of yesterday's White House press briefing that almost seems like self-parody. I suppose the average citizen doesn't read the news in this detail, but this makes it easy to see why polls says more people approve of the media than the Bush administration.

A reporter has asked a question about Bush's suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act which requires government construction contractors to pay workers the prevailing wages in the region. By suspending the law, contractors can pay desperate, displaced people rock-bottom wages, which would, in turn, drive down wages in private construction.

If it's not already obvious, I think the Gulf Coast wage cut is pretty loathsome behavior by the administration. The news coverage of Hurricane Katrina exposed the vast poverty in New Orleans to much of the country, yet the president insists on driving wages down, pushing more people toward poverty. Regardless of the president's ideological agenda, this seems politically tone-deaf, like much of the administration response to Katrina.