While I’m not a Dodd-Frank fan, it’s not because it was too harsh, but because it didn’t really do much of anything. It was the typical neoliberal bait and switch, designed to look tough for public consumption, while merely making tweaks around the edges of a financial system that requires systemic, paradigm level change.
Trump’s support of repealing Dodd-Frank tells you all you need to know. A Trump Presidency will see Wall Street felons who should be in prison, running as wild and free as ever.
He will be the same thing to distressed working class whites that Obama was to the black community. A fake messiah and a shyster.
– From May’s post: Donald Trump’s True Colors Emerge as He Snuggles up to Wall Street
The fact that Steve Mnuchin was a Goldman Sachs partner is the least of my concerns when it comes to the man. Indeed, if someone wanted to create a playing card deck of sleazy Wall Street financial crisis opportunists, it’d be hard not to include Steve Mnuchin.
What exactly am I talking about? Specifically, I’m referring to the collapse of IndyMac (renamed One West), and the generous helping of government welfare Mnuchin and his partners received upon purchasing the failed banking institution. This is a financial crisis saga that is unknown to most, despite having received some extensive coverage over the past year. One of the best articles on the topic was written by David Dayen in his piece, Donald Trump’s Finance Chair Is the Anti-Populist From Hell. Here are a few excerpts:
Donald Trump’s first major staff selection since securing the Republican nomination, national finance chairman Steven Mnuchin, co-founded and manages the hedge fund Dune Capital. Not only did he make partner at Goldman Sachs, so did his father in the 1960s. With over 30 years of experience at the top levels of finance, Mnuchin was present for every recent major banking innovation, including those that brought the country to the brink of economic collapse.
Mnuchin’s presence in the campaign reveals how the qualities Trump loyalists projected on their hero don’t measure up to the truth. They have venerated him throughout the Republican primary for rejecting the dirty business of pay-to-play politics, and for populist vows to protect the ordinary worker. But in selecting Mnuchin, not only has Trump submitted to the realities of presidential campaign finance; he’s chosen one of the most notorious bankers in America to carry it out.
When I heard Mnuchin’s name last week, I immediately remembered the front lawn of his mansion. Back in 2011, local housing activists and the Occupy movement in Los Angeles camped out on that lawn to save the home of Rose Mary Gudiel, a La Puente, California, resident who faced eviction after being just two weeks late on one mortgage payment. The activists threatened to move all of Gudiel’s furniture into Mnuchin’s $26 million Bel Air estate if the eviction wasn’t stopped. Twenty police officers and a helicopter met the protesters.
Why was Mnuchin’s front lawn the focal point for the protest? Because years after forming Dune Capital in 2004, Mnuchin’s hedge fund purchased the failed lender IndyMac, one of America’s largest home lenders and a leading distributor of Alt-A mortgages, a subprime hybrid which did not require borrowers to accurately state their incomes. After IndyMac failed, Dune led the investment group that purchased it from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 2009, renaming it OneWest Bank. Mnuchin became OneWest’s principal owner and chairman.
OneWest accomplished these foreclosures through fraud. Erica Johnson-Seck, a vice president of foreclosure and bankruptcy for OneWest, explained in a July 2009 deposition that she “robo-signed” 6,000 foreclosure-related documents per week, spending just 30 seconds on each sworn affidavit that attested to the veracity of all relevant information in the case. Johnson-Seck admitted to not reading the documents before signing them, to not knowing how the records were generated, and to not signing in the presence of a notary, all of which made the affidavits she signed false evidence in court.
The OneWest subsidiary Financial Freedom executed 39 percent of all foreclosures on reverse mortgages between 2009 and 2015, despite servicing only 17 percent of the market, according to data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) obtained by the California Reinvestment Coalition. OneWest disclosed in its most recent annual report that it’s under investigation for this disproportionate share of “widow foreclosures” by HUD’s Inspector General. The victims include 103 year-old Myrtle Lewis of North Texas, who OneWest put into foreclosure after her insurance coverage lapsed; Karen Hunziker, who got a foreclosure notice from OneWest ten days after her husband passed away in 2014; and a host of others.
Trump’s loyal fans aren’t likely to scrutinize Mnuchin’s record, but they should. You can measure political candidates in part by who they associate with. The foreclosure history in Mnuchin’s past reflects an extreme mentality of profit at all costs, and hardly a viewpoint of standing up for the little guy. Trump as populist was always something of a pose, covering for a deep nationalism and antipathy to immigrants. The Mnuchin pick just brings that into sharper relief.
Trump’s main money-chaser has profited off the suffering of ordinary Americans for years. There’s no reason to believe Trump will offer a better deal to the working class.
Moreover, an article published in The Nation covered some details of the sweetheart deal the government gave Mnuchin and team for the privilege of turning around to abuse average Americans. Here’s an excerpt from, The Worst of Wall Street: Meet Donald Trump’s Finance Chairman.
The Mnuchin group paid FDIC $1.5 billion for the bank, far less than the value of IndyMac’s assets. The FDIC was so desperate to unload IndyMac that Mnuchin and his colleagues were able to obtain, as part of the purchase deal, a so-called “shared loss” agreement from the FDIC which reimbursed these billionaires for much of their costs for foreclosing on people unlucky enough to have mortgages from IndyMac.
Within a year, the group that the Los Angeles Times called a “billionaires’ club of private financiers” had paid themselves dividends of $1.57 billion. In other words, the FDIC took much of the risk by subsidizing the bank’s troubled assets, while Mnuchin and his colleagues pocketed the profits.
The California Reinvestment Coalition—a nonprofit organization that pushes banks to reinvest in low income communities and communities of color—determined from Freedom of Information Requests that the FDIC had already paid out over $1 billion to reimburse OneWest for the cost of over 35,000 foreclosures in California and an unknown number in other states. CRC also estimated that the FDIC will eventually pay out another $1.4 billion for the costs associated with even more foreclosures in the future.
OneWest opened its doors with 33 branches and roughly $16 billion in assets. Mnuchin engineered its growth by purchasing two other failed institutions—First Federal Bank of California and La Jolla Bank—getting the FDIC to agree again to additional “loss share” arrangements so that the owners had little to lose. After these purchases, OneWest had 73 retail branches and $26 billion in assets. It also serviced billions of dollars of mortgage loans on the behalf of third parties, such as Fannie Mae. In multiple surveys of California housing counselors, OneWest was ranked among the worst mortgage servicers in the state.
Nice deal if you can get it. Oh, and there’s also this.
In July 2014, Mnuchin arranged to sell OneWest to the CIT Group for $3.4-billion—more than double what they paid for the bank five years earlier. CIT Group, a holding company that owned a Salt Lake City-based on-line bank, wanted to buy OneWest for its low-cost deposits and its network of Southern California retail branches. The consolidated bank now has assets of about $60 billion, ranking it among the nation’s 40 largest banks.
Under the terms of the acquisition, CIT agreed to pay Mnuchin $4.5 million a year for three years as the bank’s vice-chairman. Because he relinquished that post in March 31 of this year, Mnuchin was given a $10.9 million severance package, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In CIT Group’s most recent annual report, the bank disclosed that it had received multiple subpoenas in 2015 from the Office of Inspector General at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) related to the servicing of reverse mortgages by Financial Freedom.
CRC’s Gonzalez said that, in light of Mnuchin’s new role in the Trump campaign, “HUD should release more information about its investigation of OneWest’s subsidiary.”
Believe it or not, it gets even more interesting from here. For example, you may be interested to know who one of Mnuchin’s partners was in the IndyMac deal. Yep, you guessed it: George Soros.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
In 2002, Mr. Mnuchin left Goldman and later was hired to run a credit fund set up by billionaire George Soros.
In 2004, Mr. Mnuchin and two former Goldman colleagues founded hedge fund Dune Capital Management LP with financial backing from Mr. Soros. Dune soon expanded into the entertainment business, striking up a film-financing deal with a unit of 21st Century Fox. Among the films Dune financed was “Avatar,” one of the all-time box office hits.
In 2008, IndyMac Bank in Pasadena, Calif., collapsed in one of the largest bank failures in U.S. history. Mr. Mnuchin led a group of investors, including funds run by Mr. Soros and other hedge-fund and private-equity titans, who bought it from the government for about $1.5 billion. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation agreed to cover a portion of any future loan losses, a lucrative arrangement for Mr. Mnuchin and his partners. Regulators who negotiated with Mr. Mnuchin found him to be the kind of detail-oriented person who would “know the cost of every pencil,” according to a person familiar with their thinking.
Considering many diehard Trump supporters consider Soros to be the spawn of Satan, I’m curious to see the intellectual contortions necessary to justify this relationship.
Moving along, the sad thing is none of this is surprising to me. From day one, I felt that Trump was way too cozy with Wall Street, and wouldn’t do a thing to rein in financial sector abuses. I warned about it on several occasions. See:
Draining the Swamp? Wall Street is Already Loving Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s True Colors Emerge as He Snuggles up to Wall Street
A Nation of Sheep, Afraid of Words
In light of this appointment, I want to revisit something I wrote in a recent post:
To conclude, this article is primarily written for all my readers who are either Trump supporters, or who reluctantly voted for him. My message to you is that we need to hold this man’s feet to the fire. The election is over, and you got your desired outcome. Now is not the time to be a cheerleader. Now is not the time to behave exactly like Obama zombies did after he became an obvious betrayal. What allowed Obama to do all the bad things he did, was the fact that his supporters made endless excuses for him. Don’t make excuses for Trump. If you do, your life will get a lot worse and this country will decay far more into an authoritarian oligarchy than it already has. It is up to you to make sure he doesn’t become the Wall Street puppet I always feared he would be.
If you give cover to Trump to appoint swamp creatures to his cabinet, you have no right to criticize Obama for having done the same. Let’s grow up and start rallying around ideas, not cheerleading political figures.
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
From Naomi Prins book It Takes a Pillage
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Trump’s new cabinet picks Munchin & Wilbur Ross, among their friends.
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Trump’s Daily Planner:
Jan 20: Drain Swamp.
Jan 21: Treat the creatures in the swamp very nicely. Feed them. Pet them. Blow them.
Jan 22: Refill Swamp.
Jan 23: Put same creatures back in swamp.
Jan 24, 2017 through Jan. 24, 2020: Every day tell sheep you’re making America great again.
He’s not even planning on draining the swamp, just putting in the massive pumps that were supposed to be in New Orleans (but were put into a Deep Underground Bunker to keep the COG crew dry) and filtering the swamp of all that icky water filled woth prole-shit that makes it harder for the alligators to feed.
He always said he would “Make America Great Again”.
He just didn’t say for whom it would be great.
Maybe that’s why Black Friday NICS checks were once again at a record high (not including the 20 states CCW holders don’t even need to undergo the ATF shit).
(to the tune of ” Mickey Mouse) F-U-C, K-E-D, A-G-A-I-N!
Feeling the burn yet? Trust me, this time will be different!
All we need to do is vote in the right people, right?
On hearing Trumps victory speech after having been elected and in which he praised the Clinton hag – I knew he was false cunt. And I got some real shit from BP readers and my comments were deleted by the politically correct Burning Platform. Seems like the retards are slowly waking up. Well fuck you all –
I doubt your post was deleted by the “politically correct” for merely calling Trump a cunt.
You must have been trolling. Yea, maybe it was thou who was a cunt? Just askin’.
I know cunts, and Trump ain’t no cunt.
Well, fuck.
It is starting to become apparent.
Already.
Even before the swearing in.
New boss, same as old boss.
Speaking of swearing ……. FUUUUCK!!!!!
Bit friggin’ slow Sucky. I realised Trump is a false two-faced cunt just after his victory speech praising Clinton. My comments were deleted and I got a lot of shit from retarded BP readers.
Add in Ms. Chao (who is married to our NeoCON Senator- McConnell) for the Transportation cabinet post. Oh Vey !!
We’d of been far better off if he had picked someone with no experience or contacts in the financial institutions.
Maybe someone off the streets in NYC or something. that would teach those who run things a lesson or two.
Fuck Me !!!!!! Got fooled again. Worthless SOB!!! We need more regulation not less. Wall Street motherfuckers!!!! I hope you burn in hell for an eternity. Trump you stupid dumb motherfucker!!!! Read Jim Rickards “Road to Ruin”.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Trump Reportedly Considering Sarah Palin To Run Veterans’ Affairs
by Tyler Durden
Nov 30, 2016 1:32 PM
Developing…
Following chatter that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was in line for Interior Secretary, ABC News reports that President-Elect Trump is considering her to lead Veterans Affairs.
As a reminder…
As The Right Scoop reports, earlier it was reported and confirmed by Kellyanne Conway that Sarah Palin was NOT in consideration for any position in the Trump administration:
NY POST – Sarah Palin’s isn’t in the running for a cabinet job in the Trump administration — at least as far as the senior adviser to his transition team is aware.
“I know that they’re close and that she’s been a great, loyal friend and adviser to him throughout the campaign, but I haven’t seen her as part of the cabinet mix,” Kellyanne Conway told Fox News’ “The Kelly File” on Monday night.
Conway quickly added: “But that doesn’t mean that she’s not.”
Either way, Conway suggested, the former vice presidential candidate’s voice would be heard.
Hmmmmm…
But she’s not the only one in consideration for VA Secretary. It was also reported today that Pete Hegseth is also in consideration:
I’m OK with Palin the cabinet. But, she should be put in charge of the letter “E” — both upper and lower case — and nothing else.
I think this is fucking hilarious. Did anyone really, REALLY expect Trump to promote Dr. Paul? HAHAHA.
As I have said many times, the GOfP is a cesspool of treason and criminality. It should be abolished under the RICO act. I can’t even count the prominent republicans who deserve to live outside of prison (or on the guillotine) on one hand.
Trump is gonna nuke Iran. HAHAHA
Zara-Where in the heck have you been? Indentured Servant will be most pleased you are back. Wow, this is homecoming week. If AWD shows up from the great beyond even I will be shocked.
Welcome back Zara……….hope you stick around.
Personally, I pretty much expected picks of this nature. Trump will not end the FED, and he will let Wall Street carry on as always. He’s not about to piss off those boys. I will not get upset until I see him do nothing to impede illegal immigration across our southern border, or if he fails to place a moratorium on MENA, Muslim Maggots coming into this country. I don’t expect miracles, or even for him to uphold all of his campaign pledges, but I do expect him to address white genocide via multiculturalism and diversity. That would be a good start. Stop the rats from scurrying in first, and then make life hell for our own domestic rats. Just put an end to Barry’s war on America, please.
Trump has always said he likes the fed res bank system. This was out there and common knowledge before the nominations were done. A sentiment that placed him as a polar opposite to Ron and Rand Paul. Knowing that, there should be no surprise in this choice for treasury sec in a Trump cabinet.
He is simply doing what he believes is right for America.
Isn’t that why all those people voted for him?
Trump’s cabinet picks are confirming my wise decision in not voting for him. (Before all the TBP readers jump on my ass, I didn’t vote for Hillary either and I suffer at home because I voiced the opinion that Trump was less bad then Hillary).
With that being said, Trump’s priorities seem to be making nice with Putin and trying to bring jobs back to the US. If he accomplishes those things, we should be happy.
Even if he wanted to, he could never drain the swamp that is DC. If he tried, he’d be put in an open limousine driving through Dallas.
Yeah, not happy about this Treasury pick, but let’s see what they actually DO. If they repeal Dodd-Frank and reinstate Glass-Steagall, then that will be a win for the country. I’m not going to hold my breath though.
TC, you are the adult in the room. Nice
Immigration, Trade Deals – even new ones like TPP, the GloBull Warming hoax, and even the playing field on jobs with other countries. Our youth, our country is going to shit due to lack of decent paying jobs. Wonder why drugs are rampant – the youth has no future.
Get these done. I don’t care too much about the rest. Yes, I have concerns about an authoritarian administration.
BTW, we will experience very noticeable inflation.
but…but…we’re supposed to wait a hundred days or some such bullshit.
Heh… It’s a big club, & you ain’t in it.
I’m not rushing to judgement yet. Trump has a hard task with finding an appropriate candidate for the Treasury. This cabinet appointment has to be confirmed, he doesn’t get to just hand select whoever he wants without objection. Secondly, it’s incredibly difficult for him to find someone who hasn’t worked for a TBTF bank and has experience for the job. Also, how many bankers are willing to cut their lobbying ties to work in Trump’s Administration? My guess is very few.
You may not like his pick, but I would gander the talent pool is small.
Sure can’t pick from any millennial cashiers.
They need the register program on the computer to tell them what change to give back, and screw that up more often than not.
That said, anyone that went to school and learned long hand division, or actually had to balance their own checkbook (remember those?) would be more fit than a banker assclown.
Makes the qualified pool what, around 75 million or so?
What part of “this cabinet appointment has to be confirmed” are you people not understanding? He has to select someone who will get confirmed! If he picks somebody who stands no chance of being confirmed he’s wasting his time.
I find it dandy Micheal Krieger keeps writing his “won’t get fool again” medley.
I’m not saying you’re dense, or anything, but why does anyone think gubmint needs to “get things done”?
Seems to me they’ve been ” getting things done” for quite a while now, and how’s that workin’ out for ya?
“They need to be confirmed” sounds to me like it’s just the gubmint religious “seal of kosher approval” that allows this whole sham to continue screwing everyone all the time.
I’d be content with temporary acting-as-heads dismantling all the alphabet agencies instead of confirmed crooks…
Stephanie Shepard says:
November 30, 2016 at 4:47 pm
I’m not rushing to judgement yet. Trump has a hard task with finding an appropriate candidate for the Treasury.
_____________________________
Not as hard a task as taking your nonsense seriously. What the fuck do you know about it? What exactly defines “appropriate?” I mean besides being Ivy League educated, Jewish and easily corrupted? Of course, people like David Stockman or Paul C. Roberts are off the table, besides they were in vogue before you were born. Besides being inappropriate. Why? Well because no millenial has ever hear of either of them for one thing. For another, they just aren’t cool. So there.
Frankly, If I wanted a Sec Treas. who was not only qualified, also made gazillions on Wall Street and whose appointment would generate a raised middle finger to the establishment that is higher than the Statue of Liberty, I would put up Michael Fucking Milken. Take that, bitches!
“This cabinet appointment has to be confirmed”
It only took you two posts to get to Da Joos!
Oy Veh!!
Stucky- my brain types backwards some days……..Oy Veh!
Steven Mnuchin was born to a Jewish family on December 21, 1962.[2][3][4] He is the son of Elaine Terner Cooper, of New York, and Robert E. Mnuchin, of Washington, Connecticut.[3] His father was a banker, a partner at Goldman Sachs, in charge of equity trading and a member of the management committee, and the founder of the Mnuchin Gallery at 45 East 78th Street, New York.[3][5] He graduated from Yale University.[3] (from Wikipedia)
Case closed. The Rothschilds are still controlling the US, even after the Trump election. However, Trump is being watched like a hawk and should be betray his supporters, then we are looking at a revolution because no one will ever again trust another politician. I think Trump knows this but should he fail to deliver, all hell will break out. His selection of a cabinet has raised a number of red flags already but for the time being people are prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. Any trust in Trump is highly conditional upon whether or not his rhetoric is backed by deeds.
Well I have/had no skin in the game and I’m still willing to wait until April 10th or even July 19th.
Here’s a little ditty for the Trumpeteers though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzTlB-TjAzM
oh IS, one of my all time favorite music pieces.
After 8 years of O? I am SO happy to have a successful male in the WH.
Actually, comparing him to the Hill? No comparison . I don’t care how many
Munchy jews from WS Trump adds on. What do we know? We think we know
stuff but we don’t. I am still breathing a sigh of relief…I have suffered daily
knowing the rainbow was in charge. Last, we have to stay aware, keep on
prepping. The day will come when the mighty dollar will have no more than
average influence. And we have bills to pay.
By placing insiders in these positions, Trump has placed himself in a position to blame then fire their asses when they fuck up. And don’t think he wouldn’t publicly shame these people to make himself look Presidential. Give these fucks enough rope to hang themselves with. That’s my hope anyway. Nawww. We’re fucked.
Really Stephanie! like the congress is not going to confirm a fucking scumbag from Goldman Sucks. Can’t we have somebody who was not a member of that fucking, greedy, stinking, corrupt, satanic outfit. Why must one of these walking turds always be in charge. Fucking Isis! get off your ass and Rid the world of some real vermin – Allah Akbar some Goldman Sucks (lots of jews there).
“Really Stephanie! like the congress is not going to confirm a fucking scumbag from Goldman Sucks”
Exactly, they’ll confirm him. That’s my entire point. Do you think they’d approve an anti-fed, anti-fiat money, anti-too big to fail? Hell no! If Trump appointed anybody with libertarian, honest money, pro-gold standard he’d be wasting his time. The Swamp hasn’t been drained yet.
Some of Trump’s appoints will require compromise.
Let’s give him some time but we should not only hold his feet to the fire but we should be writing & calling our house members & senators from day one.
Someone mentioned Dodd-Frank & Glass-Steagall.Dodd-Frank is a disaster from all that I have read.
However,why re regulate?If we would just take away the ability of banks to borrow from the Fed or the Treasury and not allow banks to invest depositor $ in anything but mom/pop loans or small business loans,wouldn’t that take care of the TBTF problem?If only shareholder $ is at risk but depositor’s $ is safe,what do we care what they invest in?
Look, if he is going to appoint the same globalist war- whores and banksters that Clin- Ton- Un would have appointed, what was the point of the whole exercise. It wasn’t a cult of personality thing for me. I voted for him based on what he said he was going to do. What is he going to do next appoint Clin-Ton-Un as the head of the BATF. It’s time to clean house That means get rid of neo-cons, CFRers, Suckers of Goldman, globalists, pedos, etc. Enough with the bending over and taking it up the ass.
Another sign from the Trump circle jerk is the Davis Bacon Wage Act is already under attack . The excuse is to reduce the cost of government contracts by ending scale wages to be paid to the working people on those jobs . There is no person working in the mechanical trades that does not want to be assigned to scale paid work because that is where you are paid on par with not just union contract workers but government employees . I know that’s a horrible thing to be fairly compensated for your work in the same pay scales your tax dollars confiscated from you to be distributed to others for their financial benefit , something about created equal and fair and level playing field ?
I supported Trump because I know a Clinton regime would start to rival something out of 1984 but remember union wages are not over payment rather many private sector wages paid are abusive labor practice which encourages illegals to jump the fence and contractors to cook the books and create shell companies to pay labor getting around the illegal issue and with low enforcement on federal immagration issues average working people are fucked . Time will tell but things are starting to smell !
Davis-Bacon is just as much a scam as ObamaDontCare. Wages for Federal projects should be NEGOTIATED or BID, just like everything else Govt purchases. By paying wages set by an arbitrary scale, you just push up the cost of government projects.
Purchasing is an art; you may NOT choose low bid (if the bidder is unqualified, incapable or obviously incompetent); you may choose to pay more for faster completion (assuming the bidder is capable of performing faster). You may choose to split the business instead of awarding it all to one bidder (if there is a cost or performance benefit to doing so). There are lots of nuances, but if you are a Federal purchasing agent your hands are largely tied (let’s not get into the morass of “minority owned businesses”, “set-asides” and “preferences”).
But “good enough for government work” is a REAL mindset among Federal contractors. So is “we’ll bid low, then make it up on the change orders”. So is “we can use illegal labor if the inspectors don’t know we are”. Your defense of Davis-Bacon is a defense of union featherbedding, corruption and overcharging that I cannot see as a benefit to the nation.
[In 1927, a contractor employed African-American workers from Alabama to build a Veterans’ Bureau hospital in the district of Congressman Bacon.[5] Prompted by concerns about the conditions of workers, displacement of local workers by migrant workers, and competitive pressure toward lower wages,[6] Bacon introduced the first version of his bill in 1927.
Over the next few years, Bacon attempted to introduce variations on the prevailing wage bill 13 times.[7][8] Finally, in the midst of the Great Depression, with local workers complaining about cheap labor taking their jobs and Congressmen frustrated that their efforts to bring “pork barrel” projects home to their districts did not result in jobs (and therefore political support) from their constituents,[5] the Hoover Administration requested that Congress reconsider the Act once more as a means of preventing falling wages.[9] Sponsored in the Senate by former Labor Secretary Davis, it passed by voice vote and was signed into law on 3 March 1931.[3] – Wikipedia entry for Davis-Bacon Act as of 12/1/16 ]
Kind of ironic that using black workers to build a veterans’ hospital caused this. Nothing in the entry suggests that saving money, getting the most bang for the Federal buck or holding down government spending was even a consideration. Nowadays the majority of union workers are government employees, and even construction workers are less black now than they used to be in the 1960’s, say. And the Act was viewed as a “means of preventing falling wages”! So the INTENT of it was to pay more money for the same work, and prevent those evil capitalists from exploiting the workers!
Although now, with EBT and welfare and so on, you can live without having to work for it at all ….