Palin gives and saves amid big Alaska surplus

Los Angeles Times ^ | September 05, 2008 | Kim Murphy

[A_Niceguy_in_CA]

Daniel Congiolosi is sure it won't be long before energy is so expensive he won't be able to pay the bills. When that happens, he will be ready. This spring, he tripled the size of his garden. He's rushing to install a hand pump on the well, build a concrete-lined root cellar and get an ice house ready before next summer.

Thanks to soaring oil prices, he'll be able to pay for it all. Americans have been hit hard by months of $120- and $130-a-barrel oil, but in Alaska, they've hit the jackpot.

Congiolosi this month expects a check from the government for as much as $29,000 before taxes -- a combination of the annual dividend he and his large family have earned from the state's oil wealth and a special $1,200-per-person energy rebate signed into law last month by Gov. Sarah Palin.

The fuel givebacks will cost the state $750 million. With a temporary freeze on gasoline taxes and a long-standing program to help poor rural Alaskans pay their fuel bills, the state this summer is handing out $1 billion in energy relief. Though the amount of the dividend won't be announced until this morning, analysts say that even a family of four will probably get a check for up to $13,000.

Few states could afford such a bonanza, likened by Republican state Rep. Mike Kelly of Fairbanks to "morphine and welfare payments." But Alaska is on pace to earn more than $10 billion from oil and gas operations this year, double last year's revenue.

[american_ranger]

My friend and I doubled our garden’s size this year. So far we have canned or preserved:
Total: 450 quarts
Dilly Green Beans 18.5
Frozen Green Beans 24
Dill Pickles 63.5
B&B Pickles 12
Sweet Hot Pepper Relish 36
Pickalilly 23
Frozen Cabbage 26
Veg 75
Tomatoes 175
Salsa 16.5
Salsa Juice 5.5

And we just planted 48 cabbages and the tomatoes and cucumbers are still producing.

[anoldafvet]

Can anyone name any other state where that money would have come back to the people?

Alaska is an extraordinary state with an extraordinary governor.

[DB]

Once upon a time California ran a big surplus and it was returned to the taxpayers.

There was a Republican governor at the time needless to say...

[samiam1972]

I am so envious of your bounty!! DH and I are trying to find land to buy so we can have a large garden. We ate everything we grew this year. There just isn’t any room where we currently live. How wonderful for you!!

[torchthemummy]

The fuel givebacks will cost the state $750 million.

Uh...dear LAT: it doesn't cost the state $ because it wasn't the state government's to begin with. The Alaskan Constitution has a provision that the oil in Alaska is the Alaskan people's and that they are in essence shareholders.

What a bunch of maroons!