>>That doesn't make sense<<
Why not? The State of Alaska owns a fabulous treasure chest of land and resources worth trillions of dollars. Per our state constitution, these assets MUST be used for the benefit of the people. Therefore we have a system where part of the annual profits are used to help fund government, and part are sent directly to the people.
Each resident gets an annual dividend. The 2007 dividend was $1,654. There are rules that define residency, like living here for at least one year. Various politicians keep trying to get their greedy paws on all the money, but somehow we always defeat them.
There was a movement 30 years ago to divide up the land and give a bunch away to the current state residents. It was ruled unconstitutional by our state supreme court. I forget the exact reason, maybe that the resources belong to both current and future residents. Our system seems to work a lot better than other places like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, etc. People like having their own money to spend! ;>)
Remember, this is a dividend, not a welfare handout. Every resident gets the exact same amount, whether rich or poor, infant or adult. How would you handle it?
P.S. Nature provides the free air-conditioning. Whenever I'm out of state in the summer at some god-forsaken place with a temperature of 110F, it's always nice to come back here to 65F! |
