Blame legislators for overspending and underachieving at the underlying need for a long-term fiscal plan for the state - if it makes you feel better. They certainly have made some poor decisions.
But Alaskans need to look at their own reflection in the mud puddle of politics and realize we share in the blame for electing and encouraging bad decisions by many of those same lawmakers.
We're just as guilty for decades of irresponsible requests for state funding, unreasonable expectations that the state will pay the bills, and yet continuing to vote for candidates who promise the financially irresponsible.
Think about the almost $200 million in state dollars spent in the 2010s on an incomplete rail line to Point Mackenzie in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough that has no rails. Constituents wanted it, candidates supported it, the Legislature wrote the checks, and Alaska ended up with a costly pain the caboose.
Or the millions in state dollars that went to a group that was certain it could relocate moose away from highways. Nope, it didn't work.
Legislators by and large represent their constituents, which is how democracy functions and also how poor decisions rise to the top at election time. Tell voters what they want to hear and you likely will win. Tell them the truth about their bad ideas and you can cancel that election-night victory party.
Though most legislators - even the governor in his own unhelpful way - realize the state needs to cut back on the size of the annual Permanent Fund dividend, watch spending and raise new revenues with real taxes, many are frozen in fear that voters will bounce them out of office for taking the hard votes.
That leaves Alaska continuing to eat away at its savings, with a contingent of legislators, mostly Republicans from the Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula boroughs, willing to consume even more savings by taking a double helping out of the Permanent Fund this year - even though that extra spending for extra-big PFDs could take away money from schools and other public services. Besides, for many of those lawmakers, smaller government is better government, and bigger dividends are better dividends.
Not that it's true, but it plays well with some voters. Alaskans like government money, state or federal.
More than a decade ago, after much of Congress and much of the nation rebelled at federal earmarks in the budget because of a couple of notorious Alaska bridge projects, the state's congressional delegation tried to explain to Alaskans they needed to tone down the requests for federal cash for their favorite projects and programs. Alaskans did not listen, submitting $5 billion in requests the next year.
Sadly, in 2021, many Alaskans are still slow learners. The state has limited funds. What goes out as dividends absolutely cuts into what can go out for anything else, and yet too many Alaskans continue objecting to taxes and continue electing legislators who say we can have it all for free.
Until Alaskans stop believing in an impossible tax-free life and electing lawmakers who encourage the silly behavior, the Legislature will find it hard to solve the state's fiscal problems.
Reality TV is immensely popular these days. Sadly, fiscal reality is not a top-rated show in Alaska.
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