Now comes the gut punch: Yahoo Finance and WalletHub rank Alaska at the bottom of the list for 2022 state economies (#49). Only West Virginia had a lower score. Meanwhile, our closest neighbor, Washington State, is #1. Can we ask them for advice – or maybe a loan? “…poor environments for tech innovation can stymie state economies with other positive attributes such as strong exports (but) are curbed by floundering median household incomes and environments for startup companies.”
We might ask how cutting university research, shrinking the labor pool and potentially excluding other job-creating fields might explain Alaska’s poor ranking. Or how the systematic gutting of the ferries and general decline in services might affect household incomes and opportunities.
Keeping Alaska afloat and on the mend means paying our way. Reducing or eliminating the PFD and initiating a state income tax will do this. Currently we have inequality, with millionaires receiving dividends and non-residents taking boatloads of money out of state. The challenge becomes finding leaders with the political will and courage to be unpopular in the short term – to get Alaska back on the path to pride and prosperity… for the long haul.
Larry Larson