It
is only because the state needs the cash themselves and can't afford
to give hundreds of millions away anymore that the policy ended. It's
not like they were hit on the head by an apple and discovered that
oil is not the only way for the state government to fund itself.
The cash payments should have been to start-ups in fuel cell power plants and wind farms, geothermal power generation and so forth instead of oil. Legislators know only the simplest most solid revenue sources to support and don't look any father so the state is always lagging behind progress. It is an example of what several historians have pointed out about ossification that sets in on a society's economic infrastructure that makes it improbable to change and adapt hastening their downfall in regard to other societies. With Alaska being just a state instead of a nation that process is dampened by Federal redistributionism, yet it is fun to watch the lemmings repeat the same historical trails in real-time anyway.
For economic reasons people form arguments against rational scientific analysis of environmental degradation caused by human economic methods supported by government running decades behind any sort of leading edge on progress. Coursera.org -free high-quality courses on-line.
Democracy
does has a responsibility to conserve the well being of the interests
of the people to a certain extent (read a philosophy of government
textbook), rather than abandon it and just go along with plutocratic
globalists. Democratic government need not necessarily be stupid for
philosophical reasons, to avoid communism or led by smart communists
in government (yes, oxymoron's). Some comprehend why economic
diversity and conservation of state resources are desirable however,
rather than to allow the powerful to skim everything with sycophant
legislators. Government can encourage development of business
start-ups with incentives and not 'run' business. Public schools and
unionism that attack small, individual free enterprise building
trades are more exemplary of neo-communist and/or mob-like
structures.
The
United States already produces about as much oil as Saudi Arabia and
probably will continue to do so the next 20 years. The legislature
should not pay a dime to oil producers. The entire industry is of
course about money rather than good government, good environmentalism
or concern for the people. I enjoyed working for a while offshore in
oil exploration and learned something about the paradigm. It has good
technology yet it is a mistake for Alaska to contribute a dime. Oil
takes care of itself. Free enterprise, corporatism, tremendous
wealth, global politics and all that.
The
state should support diversification in energy economics and
efficiency in government. Adam Smith said to let the free hand of
enterprise guide economics and did not say that the private sector
should replace government. Environmental conservation is vital if
life is to continue on Earth as 9-12 billion people plunder it later
this century. A premium needs to be put on intelligence in
government.
The oil patch for Alaska is part of the world reserve and that is global. Prudhoe Bay could probably be another Prudhoe Bay with fracking, as could Saudi fields be entirely renewed. There is more oil than the world needs or ought to use. Water quality. Meanwhile fuel cell and battery powered vehicles are surging ahead and the demand should decrease for waste gas in fossil fuel cars. I suppose that state expenses in buildings and highways could be more efficiently used, and the costs of schools could decrease while an income tax could actually be made to exist with a rebate to state residents in the form of a residence dividend equal to the basic income tax. The Alaska Permanent fund was made to increase through excellent investing, yet the state does not invest in attracting practical revenue generating technology terribly well (perhaps fuel cell power plants). Fundamentally the state services unions and old style economics lacking creativity with loyalty to oil.
