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Ever heard of the Davis-Bacon Act? It says that government contractors must pay at least the prevailing wage of the area they're operating. The President has exercized a clause that lets him suspend Davis-Bacon in "a national emergency", freeing contractors from that onerous burden in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The "prevailing wage" for construction work in New Orleans is about $9/hour. Now maybe it's just me, but somehow I don't find the message that $9/hour to reconstruct your demolished city is just too much to be paid very convincing. But hey, I'm absolutely certain that Halliburton and any other contractors (should such a thing exist) will pass along every penny of the savings on labor costs to the taxpayers.

Cheney is a taxpayer, right?

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