By DAN FAGAN
Alaska lost 23,000 private sector jobs between January of 2020 and January 2021. Roughly 34% of those job losses came from the high paying oil and gas industry.
Unemployment claims in Alaska this January were three and a half times as high as January of last year.
Unconstitutional government lockdowns, plummeting tourism, and low demand for oil and gas has wrecked Alaska’s private sector economy.
Alaska’s bloated, obese, and waste-filled state government hasn’t helped. Alaska’s government sector is now so huge, it’s suffocating the state’s private sector.
ConocoPhillips recently announced a 10 percent reduction of its workforce in Alaska. Of course they did; why wouldn’t they pull back from a state where spending is out of control and they are paying the bills?
Even though the private sector took a severe beating last year, Alaska’s state government remained intact. In fact, the state added a couple hundred new employees during the same time period the private sector lost 23,000 jobs.
It’s as though our politicians have no regard for the health and viability of the private sector. As long as government is strong healthy and growing, all is well.
This is insane. It’s the private sector, primarily oil and gas, that pays for the lavish lifestyles those connected to the Juneau swamp enjoy.
State Rep. Tom McKay, an Anchorage Republican, has a theory on why the health of the private sector is of no concern to so many Alaska politicians.
“The ultimate objective is to have the Permanent Fund reach $100 billion,” McKay posted on Facebook. “That way the fund will kick out $5 billion per year for state government like a trust fund and then no sizeable private sector will be needed. This is the Democrat’s Nirvana.”
A weakened private sector will then drive thousands of conservatives out of the state leaving mostly those directly connected to the Juneau swamp behind living off the Permanent Fund.
It’s no secret private sector employees typically vote more conservative than those benefiting from government bloat like nonprofit cabal types, lobbyists, and unionized state employees.
The weaker Alaska’s private sector, the bluer she becomes.
The intentional assault targeting Alaska’s private sector also works well with the Left’s obsession with equality. They don’t care much about what’s right or wrong, good or evil, or if someone is free or oppressed by an unbending and overly bossy government. Equality, equality, equality trumps all for most on the left.
Leftists envision a utopian society. or Nirvana as McKay describes it, where all are equal.
The problem is the only way to reach the goal of true equality is to centralize power to the few and giving the government micromanaging ability while stripping away our personal rights, liberties and freedom.
The more freedom we have to improve or destroy our lives, the more inequality we’ll have.
A healthy vibrant private sector allows Alaskans to make the most of their God given gifts and create wealth for their family and make life better for generations to come.
Yes, those obsessed with equality loathe the private sector. This is why the Marxists running the city of Anchorage purposefully decimated the economy of Alaska’s largest city using fear of COVID-19 as an excuse.
They may blame the virus for destroying so many businesses, jobs and lives but how do they explain using federal dollars that were supposed to go to help those reeling by the lockdowns for things like building trails and renting hotel rooms for vagrants.
No, for the socialist seven on the Anchorage Assembly, a healthy economy presents a clear and present danger to their vision of a less free, more controlled society where all are equal.
This is why we can’t compromise with them. Their goals are polar opposite of freedom-loving Alaskans. They hate capitalism and despise the wealth generating power of the free market. Our only option is to defeat them.
Are you listening Representatives Louise Stutes, Kelly Merrick, and Sara Rasmussen?
Dan Fagan hosts the number one rated morning drive talk show in Alaska on Newsradio 650 KENI. Dan spends his winters in New Orleans but arrives in the state in two weeks and will spend most of the rest of 2021 in Anchorage.
Sickening TV ads are on showing Felix saving Anchorage. What a pack of lies!
Respectfully: Today, I canceled all GCI TV except the basic service plan that eliminates most of the BS ads from the programming I deign to watch. I still think their internet has promise, but most of the channels I canceled were worthless to me. I get most of my news online and don’t need the major networks to tell me what to think. The last thing the City of Anchorage needs is more BS from “Felix”. Sickening indeed, but this tripe may appeal to low information voters.
All I know for sure is I was in and out of work for months due to the faixdemic and state workers didn’t have one single furlough.
The Cowardly Lion Dunleavy had it in his power to furlough state workers and hid behind his desk. Ben Stevens held his hand and told him to just be quiet and do as told.
Would having state workers miss a few checks have helped the state’s economy? We’ll never know. The alleged GOP Governor never tried.
All across the state families are facing the decision to try to ride this impending disaster out or bail while they can. All while state government grows.
The bluer Alaska becomes, the more will increase the addictions, depression, confusion, frustration, and crime. As well as Alaskan kids still will not be able to read.
Alaska may have to self destruct first before its population gets tired of themselves, to pick up that Bible and books and see what they missed.
Regret is such a sad depressing lesson for anyone! All because of too much pride, not changing yourself, not repenting earlier. Three items that Alaskans always needed before Franklin Graham visited to Juneau: God, Books, and someone to teach Alaskans about God and how to read books. Right now, Alaskans don’t want both! they will take the heartbreak, as their attitude appears.
ABT Pastor Hoffman’s March 10 message included a verse that make me revisit the running away action thinking more about the idea moving away when one leaves a community that is difficult if a person or community of people dont want to hear about Jesus and God- you know the community dont want change. From Luke 9: 4-6 ” ‘…whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony agianst.” So they set out from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.’
I understood you dont continue arguing trying to convince people who dont want you and dont want to hear you tell them something better than they known. You move on to the next community. But What a curse! When the righteous leave a community cause their departure leaves that community open unprotected to God’s wrath and judgement once the righteous departed. I think of Lot and his family in Sodom, Lot and his family were the only ones worth saving. They were told to leave before the wicked city be destroyed. What a curse! will befall on Alaska and Anchorage IF Alaska continued pushing conservative minded peoples away continued pushing away the ‘toxic’ and ‘racist’ righteous neighbors out.
“unprotected to God’s wrath and judgment”
Please allow me to add to this … When Adam sinned, he surrendered his authority over the earth to Satan. When a peoples reject God, they reject His protection from Satan. It is Satan who destroys. It is God, who’s hands to protect are tied.
Not only is God the great law giver, but He obeys His own laws, and honors His covenants.
The ancients knew this, but they couched it in the peoples ability to understand that God is all powerful, not wanting to give Satan credit for anything.
Yup, for once Dan said something that rings true. Trouble is, he got it exactly wrong.
It is true that some politicians want the economy to fail. They’re called Republicans. They’ve been at it for at least two decades, and even though it’s a slow motion train wreck, they are progressing apace. They have attempted to raid the PF at every opportunity, done little or nothing to look for alternate economic stimuli because they keep hoping for the next oil boom, drained the state’s savings accounts so they don’t have to do any real work to solve budget problems, and succeeded in gradually draining the life’s blood out of the state’s educational systems. We have more disadvantaged people on the streets than ever before and fewer means for dealing with the problems they create. Native Alaskans are strung along with just enough resources to keep them hoping for more but without any real help to deal with their real needs. Students are leaving the state in droves to get the education they want and need because the university system has been defunded year after year and now remains a shadow of its former self. Medical care is the most expensive of all the states in the US, which is the country with the highest health care costs in the world, so people are flying outside to find affordable alternatives.
Now we have of group of people who are whining about being victimized because they have to wear masks and distance so they don’t spread a disease they refuse to believe is real, or can’t get their annual free money from the state, or can’t dominate a governmental meeting with their petty gripes, and who claim they know best how to run the government.
With these guys running the show, who’d needs enemies?
It’s good to hear the other side of the coin.
It’s the Uniparty. There are few republicans, and even less true liberals. It’s progressive leftists who hate America(and by extension Alaska) and corrupt Uniparty politicians who just want to fleece it endlessly.
Probably the stupidest column ever posted here. Maybe Dan was not around in 1986 to 1988. 6% of state jobs were cut. 8% of local government jobs cut. How did that help the private sector?
Teach our kids how to be leftist and they’ll be leftist
Teach our kids how to be Americans and they’ll be Americans.
Comments are closed.