Sarah Palin - The Economics of Self-Interest for Alaska

Sarah Palin has only one goal in mind - what's best for the economy of Alaska. She has demonstrated that she has no consideration for larger issues, beyond the bread and butter issues for Alaskans.

In a Section B (California) lead article in the LA Times of Friday, September 12, 2008, it is revealed that Gov. Palin is meddling in California politics, sending a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger urging that he veto legislation putting a fee on cargo containers going through the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland. There hasn't been much passed by the California Legislature recently, but this piece of legislation was. She argues that the $60 fee will have negative impacts for Alaskans, since a large percentage of goods shipped to Alaska arrive in containers, and many of them go through the ports in California.

California ports handle about 40% of the nation's goods. The fee is designed to raise funds to pay for pollution-reduction projects such as conversion of truck and train engines from diesel to CNG, and roadways over or under rail tracks to avoid traffic tie ups and idling trucks. It is part of a larger overall initiative by local and port authorities to reduce pollution levels caused by port activities.

She offers no consideration for Californians who suffer the pollution and negative effects of the massive port activities that handle goods for the entire country. She is only concerned for the cost of goods arriving in Alaska.

I'm hoping that Gov. Schwarzenegger, who has endorsed McCain, won't give weight to this letter from the Governor of Alaska. This fee is to provide necessary improvements to our port system, the cost of which should not be born by Californians, but by those who use the ports.

To those who argue otherwise, I would suggest that Schwarzenegger and all 48 other governors should send letters to Palin demanding that she reduce the tax her state charges on oil producers, the windfall of which funds the huge budget surpluses that she is paying out in cash to Alaskan residents, the cost of which is passed on to all Americans in the form of higher oil prices.
This fall, $2 BILLION (the largest payout in history) was paid out to Alaskans (over $3200 per person), simply for being residents of Alaska. It is ALL coming from oil money. The Alaskan PFD comes from the earnings of over $40 BILLION in oil revenues, set aside seperate from the Alaskan state budget and invested purely for Alaskan residents. At the same time, Gov. Palin is asking for almost $200 million in federal 'earmark' funding. Why? Can't the state of Alaska build it's own roads and sewers? Can't the state fund research into more efficient fish breeding? Does it really need a road built through a federal wilderness area to connect a town of 800 with a direct road to an airport? Should the federal government be building infrastructure in Wasilla, when the state of Alaska isn't contributing? Why is it that the Alaska Governor, hasn't tapped that $40 Billion well to pay for projects of benefit to all Alaskans, but would rather that all Americans pay for the costs of projects that benefit only Alaskan locals?

It is the Economics of Self-Interest that has created an national economy dependant on Big Oil, and no where is that more apparent than in the state of Alaska; but the narrowness of thinking extends to other aspects Sarah Palin's policies, whether it be the threat to Polar Bears by global warming, or the threat to spawning salmon in Bristol Bay by mining interests, her position is guided by these Self-Interest economics - that it might interfere with a gas pipeline, or with ANWR drilling, or expansion of gold and copper mining are her overriding concerns.