On Sept. 29, letter writer Garry Griffeth decried Alaska’s Permanent Fund dividend as a “government handout” and “socialism.” The very next day, another letter to the ADN titled “Easy come, easy go” referred to the Alaska government “handing out $3,200 like it’s nothing.”
The never-ending drumbeat of criticism of the PFD coming from the left ignores some historical reality:
1. The Permanent Fund was originally wisely insulated against its extinction at the hands of ever-aggrandizing government grabs by getting a significant, sustainable part of it into private individuals’ hands.
2. As was reported in this paper years ago, even the friendly-to-government Institute for Social and Economic Research, or ISER, found that PFD monies given to individual Alaskans did more good than if a similar amount had been put into politician’s hands: The PFD checks given to individuals circulated through the Alaska economy seven times, while funds given to the government circulated through our economy only three times.
3. The PFDs are not “handouts” to our citizens. They are a small part of the people’s own money coming back to them directly. Remember, we’re the “owner state.”
— Bob Woofter
Anchorage
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