President signs executive order allowing Haliburton and other contractors to pay below minimum wage in disaster areas

Well, that was quick. President Bush signed an executive order allowing Haliburton, VP Cheney’s old firm, which has already contracted to do some of the rebuilding, and other contractors to pay workers less than the minimum wage. Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA (a close friend of Bush connected with Bush’s Funeralgate scandal in Texas) are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Surprise surprise. I’m sure Haliburton and the other "friends of Bush" private contractors aren’t going to lower their fees for the rebuilding. But the victims of hurricane Katrina already in dire financial straights are going to have to settle for less than the prevailing wage to have jobs putting food back on their tables. Once they can afford tables again. These people will be victimized twice. Or else they will move away to get better paying jobs elsewhere leaving only those with poorer skills to take such low paying jobs. What kind of workmanship is going to be done in this rebuilding if they are only getting people willing to work for less than they would get elsewhere? Are the levees to be upgraded only by workers willing to work for less than a decent wage? Possibly. Does that mean that a later hurricane may create a similar disaster because Bush was in such a hurry to give more obscene profits to Cheney’s old company? Very likely. Can we insist that Bush and Cheney live near those levees so that when they do burst again they will be the first ones affected? Sadly, no.