I think Scott Goldsmith and John Havelock’s reasoning in the article “Dividend is the strongest protection for the Alaska Permanent Fund” works best. The first article, “Guarantee the PFD,” uses the reasoning of a Nobel Laureate and economist. Although this article may seem like the most reasonable choice because it comes with the insight of a highly-acclaimed individual, a sizable portion of the article is simply encouraging the reader to act against the new legislation. The article tells the reader about the assets of Alaska that could be used to instead substitute for the dividend shares from the Permanent Fund, but does not go as in-depth as the second article’s authors do. Cassellius and Smith simply state facts and give little reasoning or logical explanation behind it, leading me to prefer the other article. The third article “Who owns Alaska? Our wealth was meant to share” by Charles Wohlforth, an Alaskan author and columnist, touches on personal experience and relies heavily on historical …show more content…
Both authors use a wide variety of statistics and facts in their article and also explain the logic and reasoning behind each one. They say how the Permanent Fund is the state’s largest asset and explain how we can afford to pay dividends to Alaskans while continuing to generate $2.5 billion annually. Aside from the statistics, the authors recognize the same pattern of people turning to the dividend whenever there is a fiscal crisis. They propose the alternatives of using the earnings reserve, cashing out the unrealized gains, and eliminating inflation proofing which would free up $14 billion dollars for spending. They also consider limiting the amount of the dividend paid each year in order to consider both sides of the debate. Although their ideas may seem optimistic, their facts which support their ideas do
Drilling in Alaska will not help stop the oil crisis. Many colonial Americans weren’t concerned about protecting natural resources because they thought they had a lot but they also knew that they needed to preserve the oil. Should the United States drill for oil in Alaska’s wilderness? America shouldn’t drill in Alaska because of the environment wilderness, protecting environment, and economics.
Another way of attaining territory is to buy it. Russian Alaska is vast untamed wilderness was ridiculed as a dreary waste of glaciers, ice, white bears, and walruses.” But U.S. Secretary of State William H.
In the article, writer Juanita Cassellius discusses with the reader the questions she sent to Vernon Smith, PhD and Nobel Laureate and a former Economics Chair at the University of Alaska Anchorage, concerning Governor Bill Walker’s recent plan to restructure the Permanent Fund and cap the annual dividend to help support the government. When asked if the governor’s fiscal plan would be effective and should be adopted by the Alaskan people, he responded by saying that it would likely change nothing and even have a possibility of making Alaskans poorer. He suggests that as times have become harder in Alaska, people are less able to draw attention to long-term problems. Smith discusses that Alaska has multiple assets apart from the crude resources
Following the impulses of his romantic notions, Christopher McCandless finds himself ill-equipped in the Alaskan winter of 1992. A far cry from the “good life,” the terrain is “no picnic” with its “big and fast” rivers and “mosquitoes [that] eat [people] alive” (4-5). Within the forest lies the abandoned remains of a Faribanks City Transit System bus, an ominous reminder of what once was when man lived on the land. However, the vehicle eventually came to be recognized as a refuge for hunters during their expeditions. This all changed “in early
Throughout history, the Native people of North America and the Europeans have continually had arguments and disputes over land. To this day there are still issues trying to be resolved. Twenty years ago, the beginning of one of the most violent and intense land disputes in present day Canada occurred. This event is now referred to as the Oka Crisis, named after the town Oka in Quebec. This crisis caused a confrontation involving the Quebec provincial police, the Canadian armed forces and the Mohawk people.1 The stand that the Mohawk people took in the town of Oka became a major revelation for the aboriginal people spreading awareness of aboriginal rights across Canada.
“How does the geography of Alaska make it difficult to explore and settle:” both during the Klondike gold rush and still today?” Well, to start this off simple, the cold. The cold is one of the key things, if not the most important reason in this essay. Sometimes in Alaska it can go below freezing, and the cold seems like a very simple answer at first, but! They need to settle, work, and climb in it, the things that they need to do to get what they need, in this case oil, it will not be a very simple job. And most of the time they come back empty handed, so the payoff is worth it, and the money they waste is not the thing they worry about. Because sometimes they go home empty handed, but sometimes they don’t come home at all. And it’s more than you think.
The 107th Congress is considering approving energy development in Alaska. Shortages of gasoline, natural gas and the resulting increased prices have opened this debate. The events of September 11,
This journal article examines in detail the historical background of the purchase of Alaska, specifically the strategic plan of the Russian-American Company to create a “fictitious” sale of the territory in 1854. This prevented England from possibly overtaking the unprotected land during the Crimean War. The Crimean War drained Russia’s financial and economic resources, and virtually forced Russia to sell Alaska due to the country’s hardship. The author begins the article by giving background information dating back to 1790, when the fur trade dominated the Pacific
Little attention is given to some of the more remote areas of the world. Island residents are subject to experiences not shared by their main land cousins. This often leads to a sense of isolation. This dilemma could either be a good or a bad thing. The negative effects of isolation are clear, without an exchange of ideas or goods innovation can stagnate. On the other hand isolation could also be used as a defensive mechanism in that conflict may only be limited to inter-tribal disputes. Either way, the native inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands are an example of this life style. As a result of these unique conditions the native inhabitants of the islands had developed a culture centered around their unusually circumstances that stick out not only to other north American indigenous groups, but also to the mainland Alaskan natives.
When the time comes to leave one’s land, the true value of it is revealed. Grampa decides he “ain’t a goin’” because even though the Oklahoman land is “no good” it is still his land (Steinbeck 111). The connection to the land is through memories and history, not because of profit. The connection is underlying in the identity of the people who live on it. The same connection between the people and the land
In Chief Seattle’s (Si'ahl) “Speech on the Signing of the Treaty of Port Elliot, 1855,” he addressed the U.S Government and pleaded for the fair treatment of his people and the respect of their native culture. Born in 1788, Chief Seattle was from the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes and inherited his position as Chief of the Duwamish from his maternal uncle. In his speech Chief Seattle expressed no ill intentions towards the white man for wanting to “buy their land,” although owning the earth was unknown idea to his people. He understands that the white man are many and his people are few and they are no longer are in need of such vast land. With this “purchase” they will also be protected from invading tribes from their new brother’s in arms, although he does struggled with the differences in their newfound God and how they will ever truly be brothers. If they did agree Chief Seattle had one condition. They never be denied the rights to visit the burial grounds of the ancestors, because every part of that soil was sacred. In terms, Chief Seattle valued the earth as a precious living being that shouldn’t be owned.
The colonization of the new world and the subsequent missionary efforts to the native people in Southeast Alaska is not unlike that of the greater mainland of modern day America. Their way of life, like that of all other native peoples, forever shifted; means of income, cultural norms, sociopolitical structures, religious practices etc. However, what makes the state of Alaska unique is that it was under Russian occupancy prior to the purchase of Alaska in 1867 by the United States. In primarily focusing on the Tlingit people in the Sitka area, it will be shown that these “primitive” people were primed prior to the purchase of Alaska by the Russian occupancy. The combined factors of Russian culture and influence, as well as the efforts of Russian Orthodox missionaries, such as Saint Innocent (Father Venaminov) and St. Herman, unknowingly contributed to a level of preservation for the Tlingit people.
In 1942, fifteen thousand American soldiers and civilian laborers poured into Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon to construct a highway stretching from mainland United States to Alaska. In doing so, they had to overcome obstacles of climate, terrain, and manpower (see Figure 1). The construction of the Alaska Highway serves an enlightening episode where Canadian and American interest in northern development and continental defense became intertwined. The continental projects in the North-west, including the Alaska Highway, North-West Staging route, and the CANOL pipeline marked a new period in Canadian-American relations. There has been a tendency in the historiography to over-emphasize the threat that the American presence on Canadian
In Jack London’s “To Build A Fire”, a man battles the harsh environment of Alaska in an attempt to reach his newly bought plot of land.
In practice, dividend policy will be affected by taxes as tax rates for different categories of investors will differ. Also, a firm’s dividend policy is perceived by the financial markets to be a signaling mechanism. A cut back in dividends may signify that the firm perceives tough