Looking At The Wrong Tree To Cut Down? -- November 2, 2015

Oil subsidies mean Alaska is losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Link here.

From FuelFix, September, 2015:

Oil prices are so low, they’re hovering at benchmarks not seen in years, plunging oil-dependent Alaska into a crippling budget deficit. But the industry’s woes won’t affect the payout from the state’s oil investment account to Alaskans even though state government has been scrambling to pay the bills.

In fact, most predictions put the yearly oil check at near record levels, about $2,000 for nearly every man, woman and child who lives in the 49th state. Last year’s check was $1,884.

For the record, this year the checks were cut for $2,072.

The population of Alaska is about 800,000 people. $2,000 x 800,000 = a lot of money.

16 with 8 zeroes.

1600000000.

1,600,000,000.

$1.6 billion dollars. (Note: I often make simple arithmetic errors.)

Alaska has no state income tax.

Maybe it's just me but the state legislators may be looking at the wrong tree to cut down.

North Dakota is a considered a "high-tax" state for oil companies (compared to Texas, see Filloon), and residents of North Dakota do not get an annual check from the state's oil money.

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Carnival Cruise Lines

To run on natural gas, not diesel. I wonder if anyone has given any thought to running these ships on human waste. After all, they are making electricity from manure in Wisconsin.

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Chipotle's E. coli Outbreak 3rd This Year

Link here.

The folks commenting on possible causes are probably not too far off target.