SPOILS OF PEBBLE: Estimated annual taxes and royalties to be collected by Alaska if the Pebble Mine is developed: $136 to $180 million. Source: Pebble economic study.
SPOILS OF PEBBLE II: In 2011 dollars, annual value to the Pebble Partnership of minerals produced if mine is developed: $2.9 to $3.3 billion. Source: Pebble economic study.
SPOILS OF OIL: Oil taxes and royalties received by the state from oil in 2012: $8.857 billion. Taxes received by the state of Alaska for all other products, including mining in 2012: $350 million. Source: Alaska Department of Revenue.
SPOILS OF FISHING: Taxes received by the state from the fishing industry in 2012: $32.7 million. Source: Alaska Department of Revenue.
NATIONWIDE PERCENTAGE OF TORNADO WARNINGS THAT ARE FALSE ALARMS: 76 percent. Source: Time Magazine, June 3, 2013.
THE SPOILS OF ALASKA WATERS: In 2010, Alaskans held 76 percent or 15,477 of all 20,275 Alaska commercial fishing permits. However, Outside permit-holders earned about 55 percent of the roughly $1.5 billion gross earnings from Alaska’s fisheries in both state and federal waters. Source: Alaska’s Commercial Fisheries Commission.
WE DO IT DIFFERENT IN ALASKA: Number of university chancellors who are still employed after heaping praise on one of their employees that stated the chancellor’s boss was mentally ill: 1 – Tom Case, UAA Chancellor. Source: Myself.
SMOKING POT IN COLORADO: The average marijuana smoker in Colorado will spend $650 on legal pot next year. Source: Colorado State University study.
BIPARTISANSHIP AROUND POT: Fifty seven percent of Republicans and 59 percent of Democrats say that the federal government should not enforce federal marijuana laws in states that permit its use. Sixty seven percent of Republicans and 71 percent of Democrats also say federal enforcement of marijuana laws is not worth the cost. Source: Pew Research.
THE SHAME OF BEING AN EXXON MOBIL SHAREHOLDER: Shareholders defeated a resolution on Wednesday of this week to explicitly ban gay discrimination by a vote ratio of 4 to 1. The same measure has been on the agenda and has failed for the past 14 years. Source: New York Times, May 30, 2013.
RECESSIONS AND DEATH: More people die in economic expansions, and fewer die in economic recessions , despite the fact that suicide rates spike during recessions. Source: New York Times, May 29, 2103.
ALTERNATIVE FUEL TAXES: Twenty seven states have imposed taxes on alternative fuels. Of these states, 16 states dedicate all alternative fuel taxes to transportation. And seven states dedicate only a portion of these tax revenues to transportation. The Alaska constitution prohibits dedicated funds. Source: National Conference of State Legislatures
LADY GAGA’S SONGS CONTRIBUTE TO GDP: The Bureau of Economic Analysis has revised their rules and beginning July 31, 2013 they will count intellectual property in the calculation of the country’s gross domestic product. The revision reflects the economy’s quiet transformation from one based principally on industry to one decidedly based on knowledge and information. Source: The Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2013.
ALASKA DOCTORS RAKING IT IN: Alaska has the highest healthcare costs for services in the country. A 2010 study found rates in Alaska were up to 192 percent of what they are for the same services in Washington state. In Alaska, doctors get reimbursed through Medicaid $1,141.23 for cataract surgery, to name just one procedure. In Washington, it’s $394.44. Source: Alaska’s Health Care Commission.
ALASKA SURGEONS REALLY RAKING IT IN: Alaska has the most expensive workers’ compensation premiums and is number one in medical costs for workers. It pays surgeons 482 percent of the Medicare rate. For instance, worker’s comp will pay a doctor $4,181 for knee surgery in Alaska (nearly four times what it reimburses under Medicaid). In Washington, it’s $869, and in Hawaii it’s $693. It’ll pay $2,339 for an MRI in Alaska. In Washington it pays $769, and in Hawaii $634. Source: Alaska’s Worker’s Compensation Medical Services Review Commission.
