Case 1 - FEMA has already awarded millions of dollars in contracts without competition. Several of these contracts have gone to companies with connections to the current administration. One of these companies is Shaw Group, Inc. , who is on the client list of lobbyist and former FEMA director Joe Allbaugh. The same Joe Allbaugh who helped to identify college buddy Michael Brown to be his successor. So let me get this right. One college buddy has a hand in what will most surely be the costliest disaster in U.S. history, and the other buddy has connections to a company that could be profitting from this disaster. I suppose this is exhibit one for the saying, "it's who you know, not what you know."
Case 2 - The Davis Bacon Act enacted in 1931 requires paying workers at least the prevailing wage rate in a region. In the New Orleans area, the prevailing wage for construction labor is about $9 per hour. On September 8, 2005, President Bush suspended Davis Bacon for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida citing a need to reduce costs for reconstruction efforts in these states. So does this mean that the efforts by residents in these areas are worth less than $9 per hour? Does it make sense to reduce wages for people who are in great need? Are there regulations that limit what profits companies can make from disaster recovery efforts?
Case 3 - The founders of our country struggled with the concept of political parties and what role they should play in government. People such as Thomas Jefferson thought that political parties would do more harm to the republic than good. Fastforwarding to 2005, it seems that nearly every decision is made with the political party, Democratic or Republican, in mind. Will it hurt my party? Will it hurt their party? Even if intentions are good, it's too easy these days to be cynical about even the best of intentions. Perhaps this has always been the case, but living in the information age means that we know so much more now and what we see is perhaps not too appealing.
No comments:
Post a Comment