Category Archives: Immediate Reactions

Yesterday I had a discussion about Alaska fiscal policy that brought into the open something that I only had heard murmured about before.  It epitomizes the warped thinking that underlies recent Alaska budgets and explains why this generation of Alaska budget-makers increasingly is likely to be viewed as among the worst in the state’s history by those that will follow, beginning as soon as ten years from now.

The discussion was around the justification for the out-of-control spending Continue reading →

Next week (Thursday and Friday), Joe Perkins and I will co-chair a two-day conference on Investment in Alaska (formally known by its longer title as “A comprehensive two-day conference on investment opportunities in Oil & Gas Production and Mineral Mining in Alaska“).

The conference could not be any more timely. Continue reading →

A piece in the Alaska Dispatch Wednesday on PERS (the Public Employee Retirement System) and TRS (the Teacher Retirement System) caught my eye.  The piece seemed to disappear from the “front page” of the Dispatch relatively quickly, but is still available on the back pages.

One of the best recent debates about the state’s current fiscal situation and future occurred at the end of yesterday’s meeting of the House Task Force on Sustainable Education.   I was presenting on the issue, when Andrew Halcro, another member of the Task Force, had a question, that began in the first few sentences with “I don’t agree …”

And then, after awhile, Rep. Charisse Millett jumped in.  By the end all of the Task Force members (with one exception who had to depart early) had weighed in. Continue reading →

As some readers will recall, for some time I have been running a parallel blog — previously named “Observations and Updates” — at which I post shorter pieces reflecting on events as they occur.   The reason is that Continue reading →

Tomorrow (August 28) and Thursday are the first two meetings of the House Task Force on Sustainable Education, established this past legislature by House Resolution 8 and co-chaired by Rep. Lynn Gattis, Chair of the House Education Committee, and Rep. Tammie Wilson, Chair of the House Finance Committee Subcommittee on Education and Early Development.  Andrew Halcro and I are serving as representatives of the business community.

Tomorrow’s meeting starts at 2p; Thursday’s meeting starts at 9a.  The agenda is available Continue reading →

Earlier this week the Alaska Senate Majority was reporting from the Federal Overreach Summit, summarizing some of the key points made during the presentations. At one point during Senator Begich’s presentation they had this to say:

Begich: Federal debt = $46,000 per man, woman and child in US- That is truly irresponsible

It is not clear from the context whether the editorial observation of  “that is truly irresponsible” was the Senator’s or the Alaska Senate Majority’s, but for this purpose it really doesn’t matter. Likely, both agreed on the statement.

The interesting fact that was not added to either Senator Begich’s comment or the summary, however, is the size of Alaska state debt “per [Alaskan] man, woman and child.” Continue reading →

While doing some research this past week for an upcoming piece in the Alaska Business Monthly (ABM) I ran across a telling footnote.  The upcoming piece is about the potential effect of Alaska OCS development on state finances; it will appear in the September edition of the ABM.

The footnote is from a February 2011 joint study prepared for Shell Oil Company by Anchorage-based Northern Economics and the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER).  Somewhat misleadingly, the study is entitled “Potential National-Level Benefits of Alaska OCS Development.”  The title is somewhat misleading because the 2011 study also updates a review of the state-level benefits reflected in an earlier, 2009 study for the same client by the same groups. Continue reading →

At their invitation, yesterday I provided a status report on Alaska LNG Projects to the Mat-Su Borough Port Commission. Understandably, the Commission is interested in the potential use of Port MacKenzie as a terminus for such a project.

The purpose of the presentation was to provide a broad background of all three Alaska projects for the Commission’s discussions, and at the request of Commissioner Paul DuClos to provide a “reality check” on where the projects likely are headed.  Andrew Wellner of the Mat-Su Frontiersman caught my summation well in his story on the meeting: Continue reading →