Alaska

[Queso]

So I was enjoying hookah on the beach with this Alaksan couple I met today and this guy started talking about how the government pays them a "dividend" (i think is what they called it, or maybe it was compensation, or maybe I'm just making it up)

every year for being a citizen.

 

Anyone know anymore information about this?

[Zythryn]

Alaska makes a bucket of money, much of it from oil. It returns a portion of this money to its citizens. Think of it as kind of a negative state tax rates.

 

Some states levy taxes, some states have no income tax, Alaska pays you tax:) I believe it is $2500-$3500 a year??

 

PS If you want to take advantage of that, move there now, I don't expect that to last more than one or two generations.

[Queso]

Thank you.

 

The cold depresses me, I'll only visit.

[Racoon]

But Alaska has a much higher cost of living, and economic growth is slow.

Oil and Gas jobs are being laid off. Most jobs found would be in the service sector. (hotels, tour guides, restaurants)

Plus the climate can be pretty harsh.

The 3 largest cities, Kodiak, Juneau, and Fairbanks are in the top 10 most expensive cities in the USA

 

If you want to get away from people, its an ideal location flush with wildlife and scenery.

Its probably best just visit in the summer time.

 

If you want to move there, bring Money (~ $5000) Theres been more than 1 shattered dream for those who went ill-prepared.

 

This Article has some good information :)

Finding Work in Alaska

[freeztar]

My best friend and his newly wed wife live in Alaska, almost entirely off the land.

I know he's told me of several incentives for natives, but he's never mentioned the "reverse tax". I'll have to ask him about it when he visits at the end of the month.

[Zythryn]

But Alaska has a much higher cost of living, and economic growth is slow.

Oil and Gas jobs are being laid off. Most jobs found would be in the service sector. (hotels, tour guides, restaurants)

Plus the climate can be pretty harsh.

The 3 largest cities, Kodiak, Juneau, and Fairbanks are in the top 10 most expensive cities in the USA

 

I find it surprising oil and gas are being laid off. We haven't closed off any part of Alaska to drilling since the 90s, have we?

 

Harsh climate? Not near the coast. Very cloudy but extremely mild (for the longitude). Now inland, I am sure that gets plenty harsh.

 

Thanks for the info about the cost of living, that surprised me as well. Who would have thunk it?? =)

[Racoon]

I find it surprising oil and gas are being laid off. We haven't closed off any part of Alaska to drilling since the 90s, have we?

 

Harsh climate? Not near the coast. Very cloudy but extremely mild (for the longitude). Now inland, I am sure that gets plenty harsh.

 

Thanks for the info about the cost of living, that surprised me as well. Who would have thunk it?? =)

 

 

From the Article Zythryn:

 

Due to falling production, oil and gas industry employers have been laying off workers, and further layoffs are expected. Employment in state and local government is in a downward trend. Mining companies have been curtailing operations. Urban school districts have more teacher applicants than positions and rarely hire from out of state. The timber industry is much reduced from earlier years. There is no factory work in Alaska. The fishing industry has experienced dramatic declines in harvests in some species and areas. Competition for federal jobs is keen: for information, contact an Office of Personnel Management in your state.

[Buffy]

Alaska's harsh climate makes it more expensive to drill there. While there's lots of oil still there, the current world price of oil does not make it economical to go after anything but the "gushers". If they have to spend a lot of time poking around to find smaller pockets or actively pump the oil, its just not worth it. Opening up ANWR has been pursued because its a new area that looks like it has easy to extract oil, and that's why its been pushed both by the oil companies as well as all the people who work for them and the state government.

 

A lot of the technologies that are easy to use on less productive wells in mild climates do not work well at all in subzero temperatures. Of course the way Global Warming is going, those techniques will be easy in about 50 years there, so we'll have a place to look for it then...

 

It's cold, :shrug:

Buffy

[An Alaskan]

Hmmmm....

Well, these posts were all certainly very...educational!

You are all surely enthusiastic if just a tad bit misinformed.

No worries, though, I'm sure you are way ahead of me when it comes to trivia about other states!

There is a site that will help fill in a few things for anyone interested in the 49th state, it's called State of Alaska home page, another called msn encarta alaska and if you google the letters ANWR you will get info regarding the oil topic. The reverse tax is actually called the PFD, for permanent fund dividend.

Did I say trivia???

Yes, in winter we are cold but in summer we get up to around 100 degrees.

We also grow cabbages that weigh around 100 pounds and have some fish that weigh as much as 700 pounds. Anchorage has the most people of any city in the state, somewhere around 300,000. Alaska was purchased from Russia, which lies 3 miles away, for about two cents per acre. The size of the state is easy to remember, just think 365 days in a year, make that 1 million acres for each day and you have it - if we cut Alaska in half it would make Texas the third largest state. We have between 5000 and 6000 quakes per year (one recorded at 9.2) and we have around 60 or more active volcanoes. Not including Mt Wrangell which is considered dormant but which responded so energetically to the quake in Sumatra that special sessions were called among the great-knowed-ones to determine what was going on up here! They remain baffled by it.

We have 100,000 lakes (sorry Minnesota!) and we consume more ice cream per capita than any other state. Unofficially I think we also probably rank at the top in the area of mosquito production.

Hey, we have a governor with a 90% approval rating, that should be good for a couple of points, right? Her name is Sarah and her kids are Track, Bristol, Willow and Piper. Her husband, the First Dude, is a champion snow machine racer.

Okay, I'll be quiet now.

Well, just one or two more things: If I look out the window I am seeing what I'm told is the largest area without roads left on the entire planet and our Ahtna native people are the most recently discovered. I don't know how true those last two are but they make me ponder my surroundings.

[DougF]

I have two sisters that live in Kenai Alaska and they love it there and would not move the only thing that "An Alaskan" forgot to comment on is the long days in the summer and the long nights in the winter the land of the midnight sun don't you know. :shrug:

[An Alaskan]

Oops, sorry! Cheechakoes (newcomers) cover their entire windows with tinfoil to keep out the light. You look up in passing and see foil all over someone's window and you know they haven't been here very long.

You're right, sloppy trivial-ism here! I'll try to do a better job next time.

How can I ever make it up to you?

I know, I'll give you another mystifying morsel of trivia!

Alaska is the northern most, western most and eastern most state.

It's also the only one with all the letters located on the same row on your keyboard.

How's that?

:shrug:

[Freddy]

Two friends of mine from MA moved to Anchorage at different times decades ago and they both love it there. During the 1970's a friend worked on the pipeline and made a ton of money but came home when it was finished.

[An Alaskan]

"The Pipeline Years"! Ah yes, I think we all remember those crazy times. Our house is about 1/4 mile from the pipeline so we listened to the heavy equipment all night long. It was often cold , meaning minus 50 degrees or colder, and everything sounds extremely loud when the temperature is down there. A truck passing will sound like a jet coming in for a landing, I felt like something was going to run right over the house!

You're right, the money was absolutely ridiculous. People would pay $500.00 for a simple birthday cake, there were no limits. It is an experience in itself to sit back and watch how people behave when they have all the money they could ever possibly spend. Some are foolish, some remain frugal and some are just plain idiots with it. Oddly enough the town dump was a site worthy of study. People threw away unbelievable amounts of perfectly good items. A trooper friend actually would take his pickup there every evening and load up. He stockpiled lumber, timbers, brand new windows, doors, whole boxes of nails, etc and built a very nice 5 bedroom home without having to purchase a thing!

[Freddy]

This pipeline guy was really thrifty. All he did was work, eat/drink, and sleep. The company provided the shelter, food, and even beer. He was happy except for lack of female company. When he came home he said he had made enough money to live for 10 years without having to work. I do not know if it lasted that long as I lost contact with him in 1979.

[billg]

I can't remember where I heard this, probably on TV somewhere, but I believe what was along the lines of "Like how the government pays Alaskans a bribe to allow them to rape the land for its natural resources" or something of the like. It may be put crassly but it rings true; I can't really think of a better reason the government would pay so much.