The Davis-Bacon Act is a federal law discussed on The Bob Zadek Show as requiring payment of the “prevailing wage” on government contracts and as a target for repeal by libertarian guests. In the excerpts, the law is treated as one item in a broader list of federal programs and statutes that the host and his guests argue should be eliminated or dismantled. The sources present two distinct framings: a racial-exclusion account offered by host Bob Zadek, and a cost-and-union-patronage account offered by guest Matt Welch.
The 2010 discussion with Matt Welch
On the October 10, 2010 episode, the Davis-Bacon Act arose during a segment on specific proposals for federal budget cuts. Welch, identified as editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine, had been listing programs to eliminate — government involvement in the housing market, agricultural subsidies, the FCC — when he said that one of his magazine’s writers had come up with “dismantling the Davis-Bacon Act” A Libertarian Plan (2010).
Zadek then supplied a historical account of the law’s origins. He said it was “done to keep Blacks out of the government contracting market in 1931,” and that Bacon was a Long Island congressman who “couldn’t stand the thought of Blacks competing against the whites on Long Island for federal government contracts in 1931.” According to Zadek, the purpose was “to prevent the Blacks from price competition in wages,” and he added that Davis-Bacon “costs everybody in a hidden way all kinds of money because the government must overpay every time it puts out a government contract” A Libertarian Plan (2010).
Welch’s response focused on the mechanics and the cost. He said that under the law “you have to pay the prevailing wage, which is always, you know, minimum wage times two or three or at least a percentage, and they can’t competitively bid.” He characterized the arrangement as using public money “as a way to reward their union friends” and called it “a hidden tax” that “costs us incredible amounts of money.” Welch also noted that the same dynamic appears at the local level, “especially in labor-dominated states like California,” citing living wage ordinances on hotels near LAX as an example A Libertarian Plan (2010).
The exchange occurred within a broader budget-cutting discussion in which Welch also proposed repealing unspent stimulus money and bringing troops home, and in which Zadek repeatedly endorsed Welch’s choices. The Davis-Bacon item was one of several the two men agreed on; Zadek’s “Good choice, Matt” preceded the introduction of the topic, and the segment moved on to other cuts afterward.
The 2011 episode with Gary Johnson
The Davis-Bacon Act appears again in the April 30, 2011 episode featuring Gary Johnson, identified as former Governor of New Mexico, a 2012 presidential candidate, and honorary chairman of the OUR America Initiative. The episode’s introductory summary lists Davis-Bacon among the topics discussed, alongside the illegitimacy of U.S. intervention in Libya, the “Big Four” budget items (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Defense), housing-market and agricultural interference, and public employee unions Straight Talk with Gary Johnson (2011).
The excerpt provided for this episode consists of the introduction and the opening of the first segment, in which Zadek recounts how he first encountered Johnson at a dinner sponsored by the Reason Foundation and describes his reaction to hearing Johnson speak. The excerpt breaks off before the substantive discussion of Davis-Bacon begins. As a result, the sources do not show what Johnson said about the law, what position he took, or how his treatment compared with Welch’s. The only information the excerpt supplies is that Davis-Bacon was among the topics the episode covered.
Across episodes
Two episodes touch the topic: the October 10, 2010 budget-cutting conversation with Matt Welch, and the April 30, 2011 interview with Gary Johnson. The excerpts show no development between the earlier and later treatment, because the 2011 excerpt breaks off before the Davis-Bacon discussion begins; the only later-episode evidence is the topic listing in the episode summary.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not state the text of the Davis-Bacon Act, the date of its enactment beyond Zadek’s reference to 1931, the name of any amendment or subsequent legislation, or the outcome of any court case construing it. They do not identify Bacon’s full name, his state beyond Zadek’s reference to Long Island, or his party. They do not supply figures for the law’s cost, the number of contracts affected, or the wage levels it produces beyond Welch’s general characterization. And they do not report what Gary Johnson said about the law, since the 2011 excerpt ends before that portion of the episode.