Editor,
I would like to thank Karl Monetti for giving me credit for the fact that Alaskans have not had to pay state income tax for the last 39 years.
That has left approximately $50 billion in the pockets of Alaskan families to spend or invest as they saw fit, a fact of which I’m very proud to have had a significant part in achieving. If the political system had kept that $50 billion, it would have been used to build an even bigger unsustainable bureaucracy and we would be in a deeper hole then we are now.
Contrary to Karl’s other so-called fact, Alaska does have and has had a major spending problem since the advent of immense surplus wealth going directly into the public treasury and being allocated politically, not subject to rational market forces.
This has left us with by far the most expensive state government per capita in the United States. The State of Alaska has a surplus of wealth of roughly $80-$90 billion, and the people are struggling to pay their bills. There is something wrong with this picture.
I do of course also disagree with another of Karl Monetti’s so-called facts: Socialism or Democratic Socialism to use a more current vernacular is bad and up until recently the vast majority of Alaskans and Americans knew that and were aware of the untold suffering those systems ultimately lead to.
The only way that the socialistic programs that exist in the United States today can survive is because of what’s left of our traditional capitalistic, free-market system which supports them. Ask yourself; what wealth does socialism produce? All socialistic programs spend money, they do not create it. Margaret Thatcher’s famous quote;” Socialism works only until you run out of other people’s money” fits our circumstances perfectly.
Another question to ask yourself: After spending incalculable billions of dollars what has the current Alaska system created that is economically sustainable once the oil money is gone? The bottom line is that capitalism/free markets create wealth, while Socialism, of all stripes, spend wealth.
Richard (Dick) Randolph
Fairbanks
The logic and truth is a bit dizzying to a left leaning persuasion. But alas, I like the illustration of where we should be if the government had all of the money the citizenry had to be trusted with ,(their own money) all these years.
Our governor tried to give us back the money our government stole from us but the democrats of course want to live fat on the hog. As Alaskans we need to stand up for ourselves and voice our opinions. Not only do we deserve our full PFDs but we deserve to have all the money the last round of government stole from us. Our economy is bad because people can’t afford the spend money we don’t have. If the democrats want to keep stealing our money then they shouldn’t get a dime of pfd and they should donate their money to these horrible socialist programs to just create total government dependency. Over the past 3 yrs the government has stolen 20k from my family. I say stole because I didn’t give them permission to take our family’d pfd money.
Just curious here, but what is it that makes you deserving of that PFD money? Is it that you lived here for the required amount of time, or that you filled out your pfd form that makes you more deserving than someone wanting government services (airports, roads, etc.) say? And, I’m fairly certain that this is not a democrat/republican thing either as there are some democrats holding out for a full PFD too.
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