Though Leery of Washington, Alaska Feasts on Its Dollars

[Modbert]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/business/19stimulus.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

And what of the federal stimulus, from which Alaska receives the most money per capita in the nation? Would he reject it?

Mr. Gatto, 72 and wiry, smiles and shakes his head: “I’ll give the federal government credit: they sure give us a ton of money. For every $1 we give them in taxes for highways, they give us back $5.76.”

Alaskans tend to live with their contradictions in these recessionary times. No place benefits more from federal largess than this state, where the Republican governor decries “intrusive” Obama administration policies, officials sue to overturn the health care legislation and Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, voted against the stimulus bill.

Although its unemployment rate sits at just 7.9 percent, about two percentage points below the national rate, Alaska has received $3,145 per capita in federal stimulus dollars as of May, the most in the nation, according to figures compiled by Pro Publica, an investigative Web site. Nevada, by contrast, has an unemployment rate north of 14 percent and has received $1,034 per capita in recovery aid. Florida’s jobless rate is 11.4 percent, and the state has obtained $914 per capita.

And the state has avoided the unemployment devastation visited on the Lower 48 in part because federal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.

In 1996,Alaska’s share of federal spending was 38 percent above the national average. Thanks to the pork-barrel politics of the late Republican Senator Ted Stevens, who was chief of the Senate Appropriations Committee for several years, and to the military, which keeps expanding its bases here, Alaska’s share now is 71 percent higher than the national average.

 

[rightwinger]

When it comes to pork....Alaska has always been king


RIP Ted Stevens

 

[jillian]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/business/19stimulus.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

And what of the federal stimulus, from which Alaska receives the most money per capita in the nation? Would he reject it?

Mr. Gatto, 72 and wiry, smiles and shakes his head: “I’ll give the federal government credit: they sure give us a ton of money. For every $1 we give them in taxes for highways, they give us back $5.76.”

Alaskans tend to live with their contradictions in these recessionary times. No place benefits more from federal largess than this state, where the Republican governor decries “intrusive” Obama administration policies, officials sue to overturn the health care legislation and Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, voted against the stimulus bill.

Although its unemployment rate sits at just 7.9 percent, about two percentage points below the national rate, Alaska has received $3,145 per capita in federal stimulus dollars as of May, the most in the nation, according to figures compiled by Pro Publica, an investigative Web site. Nevada, by contrast, has an unemployment rate north of 14 percent and has received $1,034 per capita in recovery aid. Florida’s jobless rate is 11.4 percent, and the state has obtained $914 per capita.

And the state has avoided the unemployment devastation visited on the Lower 48 in part because federal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.

In 1996,Alaska’s share of federal spending was 38 percent above the national average. Thanks to the pork-barrel politics of the late Republican Senator Ted Stevens, who was chief of the Senate Appropriations Committee for several years, and to the military, which keeps expanding its bases here, Alaska’s share now is 71 percent higher than the national average.

somehow i think this is going to change now.

 

[Modbert]

somehow i think this is going to change now.

Politicians actually backing up what they say and not just saying one thing with their mouths and another with their hands?

 

[Oddball]

And the state has avoided the unemployment devastation visited on the Lower 48 in part because federal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.

So, then it's safe to say that these jobs are mostly federal gubmint jobs...Which would only follow that a lot of federal money goes into Alaska.

BTW, did they happen to mention the eight military installations and the fact that the feds own nearly 70% of the lands in the state?

State-by-State Listing of Major U.S. Military Bases - Alaska
http://theultimathule.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ak_pub_lands.jpg

You think that financial support of those bases and the expenses for the bureaucrats administrating that kind of land mass comes cheap?

But hey...The feds could always get the hell out and let those ingrate Alaskans run their own state, couldn't they?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

And the state has avoided the unemployment devastation visited on the Lower 48 in part because federal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.

So, then it's safe to say that these jobs are mostly federal gubmint jobs...Which would only follow that a lot of federal money goes into Alaska.

BTW, did they happen to mention the eight military installations and the fact that the feds own nearly 70% of the lands in the state?

State-by-State Listing of Major U.S. Military Bases - Alaska
http://theultimathule.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ak_pub_lands.jpg

You think that financial support of those bases and the expenses for the bureaucrats administrating that kind of land mass comes cheap?

But hey...The feds could always get the hell out and let those ingrate Alaskans run their own state, couldn't they?

Well, er, um, well, if you keep bringing facts you'll end all debate

 

[DiveCon]

And the state has avoided the unemployment devastation visited on the Lower 48 in part because federal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.

So, then it's safe to say that these jobs are mostly federal gubmint jobs...Which would only follow that a lot of federal money goes into Alaska.

BTW, did they happen to mention the eight military installations and the fact that the feds own nearly 70% of the lands in the state?

State-by-State Listing of Major U.S. Military Bases - Alaska
http://theultimathule.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ak_pub_lands.jpg

You think that financial support of those bases and the expenses for the bureaucrats administrating that kind of land mass comes cheap?

But hey...The feds could always get the hell out and let those ingrate Alaskans run their own state, couldn't they?

oops

 

[Oddball]

 

[johnrocks]

Nothing like forcing government programs on States and people and then bitch and complain when the low hanging fruit is grabbed. I wonder how much of that money is in things like military bases, Medicade,Medicare and mandates imposed on States to begin with?

 

[Yurt]

And the state has avoided the unemployment devastation visited on the Lower 48 in part because federal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.

So, then it's safe to say that these jobs are mostly federal gubmint jobs...Which would only follow that a lot of federal money goes into Alaska.

BTW, did they happen to mention the eight military installations and the fact that the feds own nearly 70% of the lands in the state?

State-by-State Listing of Major U.S. Military Bases - Alaska
http://theultimathule.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ak_pub_lands.jpg

You think that financial support of those bases and the expenses for the bureaucrats administrating that kind of land mass comes cheap?

But hey...The feds could always get the hell out and let those ingrate Alaskans run their own state, couldn't they?

lol....that shut the earlier posters up

 

[RetiredGySgt]

And the state has avoided the unemployment devastation visited on the Lower 48 in part because federal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.

So, then it's safe to say that these jobs are mostly federal gubmint jobs...Which would only follow that a lot of federal money goes into Alaska.

BTW, did they happen to mention the eight military installations and the fact that the feds own nearly 70% of the lands in the state?

State-by-State Listing of Major U.S. Military Bases - Alaska
http://theultimathule.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ak_pub_lands.jpg

You think that financial support of those bases and the expenses for the bureaucrats administrating that kind of land mass comes cheap?

But hey...The feds could always get the hell out and let those ingrate Alaskans run their own state, couldn't they?

lol....that shut the earlier posters up

What did you expect, Modbert brought us YET another dishonest thread.

 

[Claudette]

And the state has avoided the unemployment devastation visited on the Lower 48 in part because federal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.

So, then it's safe to say that these jobs are mostly federal gubmint jobs...Which would only follow that a lot of federal money goes into Alaska.

BTW, did they happen to mention the eight military installations and the fact that the feds own nearly 70% of the lands in the state?

State-by-State Listing of Major U.S. Military Bases - Alaska
http://theultimathule.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ak_pub_lands.jpg

You think that financial support of those bases and the expenses for the bureaucrats administrating that kind of land mass comes cheap?

But hey...The feds could always get the hell out and let those ingrate Alaskans run their own state, couldn't they?

lol....that shut the earlier posters up

You betcha!!!

They also seem to forget that its not Govt money. Its taxpayer money. Folks iin Alaska and every other State pay taxes. They all also feed at the trough full of their own money.

Imagine that. LOL