Tweet [1]
Also writing informatively about immigrants to America is Scott Sumner [4].
David Boaz gets to the heart of what’s truly embarrassing [5].
In this short video, John Stossel exposes some damage done by regulations in New York City [7].
Speaking of U.S. higher education, George Will writes about it with nuance and wisdom [9].
Larry Elder proposes repeal of the execrable and racist Davis-Bacon Act [10]. A slice:
The Davis-Bacon Act, a Depression-era measure, was designed to thwart black workers from competing against white workers. It requires federal contractors to pay “prevailing union wages.” This act sought to shut out black workers from competing for construction jobs after white workers protested that Southern blacks were hired to build a Veterans Bureau hospital in Long Island, New York — the district of Rep. Robert Bacon, one of the bill’s sponsors. It is remarkable the Davis-Bacon still lives despite its racist intent and its discriminatory effect — to this day — on black workers. Passed in 1931, two Republicans teamed up to sponsor it.
In a labor market dominated by exclusionary unions that demanded above-market wages, blacks, at the time, competed by working for less money than the unionists. Davis-Bacon stopped this by requiring federal contractors to pay prevailing local union wages, causing massive black unemployment. Lawmakers made no secret of the law’s goal.