ALASKA IS
FLAGGING
“It’s not ‘Oh, jeez, here he goes
again with another rant.’ They
know I’m serious.”
THE SPECTER OF ‘FOR SALE’ SIGNS
If Ted Stevens was most responsible for building today’s Alaska, it
may be up to Mark Begich to keep
it from falling apart.
Alaska’s economy has fared well
during Begich’s term in the Senate, and his work on the 2009
stimulus package quickly established him as a viable successor to
Stevens in the role of the state’s
chief appropriator. Per capita,
Alaska benefited more from the
Recovery Act than any other state.
Now, as Begich travels around the
state with an eye toward his reelection campaign, he is quick to
point out his rapid ascension in
Senate seniority and his seat on
the Appropriations Committee.
Still, he’s faced with a far more
tightfisted Congress than his predecessors were, and a state economy that is flirting with catastrophe.
Washington spending and the
oil industry are responsible for a
combined two-thirds of Alaska’s
economy and jobs, and in some
communities 71 percent of personal income derives from government funding. A dramatic
HUFFINGTON
01.26.14
change in the status quo could be
disastrous, transforming Alaska
from one of the country’s most
economically crucial states — one
where each resident receives an
annual dividend check from the
state’s oil revenue — to something
amounting to a glorified territory.
Gregg Erickson, an economist who has worked extensively
“At the end of the day,
Alaskans are worried
about what the economy
is doing. Will they still
have a job, is the military
going to be here, is the
oil and gas flowing?”
on state issues, predicted that
Alaska’s declining fortunes could
cause an economic downturn
that would eclipse the one visited
upon Michigan after the auto industry’s collapse.
“The specter of ‘For Sale’ signs
looms large,” Erickson told HuffPost.
“Think Appalachia with seven
months of winter,” Alaska-based
journalists Amanda Coyne and
Tony Hopfinger wrote, rather bluntly, in their book Crude Awakening.
With earmarks, it was easier for
lawmakers to address specific con-