"In a recent post, I said that whatever other mistakes Obama was making, at least he was repeating only 1 of 4 mistakes that Hoover/FDR (I think I'll start calling them Herbert Delano Roosevelt) made. Commenters pointed out correctly that Obama might be repeating a second mistake: the protectionist (I call it "barrierist") mistake that Hoover made.
"The executive order "has the unfortunate potential to limit contractors' ability to compete for projects"
I'm puzzled by this. If everyone has the same minimum wage constraint, it means that the bids will have to rely on other factors than wages.I can see that this costs the taxpayers more, but it only rules out a bidder using lower wages to win his bid.
Now, if an employer has a union contract, he might not be able to lower his wages in such a competition. If that's true, we can at least see politically why this is anathema to President Obama.
By the way, since we are in a recession and ought to be able to get materials and other services cheaper now, we should probably want long term contracts on current projects.
Devil's Advocate, I agree. That's why I said it will cost the taxpayers more. But the alternative,namely, President Obama agreeing to rules that will adversely impact on unions, seems politically unreal.
I simply want us to remember that Political Economy trumps Economics. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to give up, even if you're a Democrat, but it does mean that you're going to have to find some way to allow unions to not be at a disadvantage. Some way of splitting the difference might work. A perfect solution, probably not. But I'll take saving real money anyway I can everyday.