Talk about heresy -- University of Iowa economist David Barker is disputing the notion that the federal government made a smart investment buying Alaska from Russia 142 years ago for $7.2 million.

How could he say such a thing?

Sure Alaska's economy was slow to develop after William H. Seward brought us into the federal fold. But in the past 40 years, since oil was found on the North Slope, Alaska has been churning out wealth like an ATM machine gone haywire.

And that doesn't count the riches -- salmon, gold and fur seals -- carted off during boom times earlier in our history.

But Mr. Barker looks at the Alaska purchase like an accountant, strictly from Uncle Sam's bottom-line perspective.

And if you do that, you do see a problem.

Uncle Sam has been a generous uncle to Alaska -- too generous, if you're Mr. Barker.

He points out the feds have spent enormous sums to manage their "investment" in our state. And it's true.

The feds built a 500-mile railroad through the wilderness in the early 1900s. They spent billions to defend Alaska after the Japanese attacked in the Aleutians in WWII. During the Cold War, the feds spread military outposts all over, to keep an eye on the Soviets.

And that was before Ted Stevens spent 40 years in the Senate, carting off federal billions almost as fast as a wounded Wall Street investment house collects bailout cash.

OK, so maybe Barker has a point. Maybe if you add up everything the feds have spent on Alaska, they might have done better back in 1867 by investing that $7.2 million in horse wagons and whaling ships.

To which we say, thank you Mr. Barker, you can now climb back into your ivory tower. Not everything that matters can be tallied in dollars and cents. Government doesn't always look at things the same way bean-counters and investment bankers do, thank goodness.

Here in the real world, Seward's $7.2 million purchase looks like a winner. Alaska has yielded the country a gusher of oil, motherlodes of gold, megatons of fish and furs, and a strategic outpost for easily reaching all corners of the Northern Hemisphere. (You really can see Russia from here.)

Uncle Sam probably could have spent less money on us Alaskans, especially in the past 40 years, after we found oil. But when the rest of the country is willing to shower you with generosity, who are we to say no?