Republican state lawmaker Carl Gatto … "For every $1 we give them in taxes for highways, they give us back $5.76."
Alaskans tend to live with their contradictions in these recessionary times. No place benefits more from federal largess than this state, where the Republican governor decries “intrusive” Obama administration policies, officials sue to overturn the health care legislation and Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, voted against the stimulus bill.
Although its unemployment rate sits at just 7.9 percent, about two percentage points below the national rate, Alaska has received $3,145 per capita in federal stimulus dollars as of May, the most in the nation, according to figures compiled by Pro Publica, an investigative Web site. Nevada, by contrast, has an unemployment rate north of 14 percent and has received $1,034 per capita in recovery aid. Florida’s jobless rate is 11.4 percent, and the state has obtained $914 per capita.
[F]ederal dollars support a third of Alaskan jobs, according to a University of Alaska, Anchorage, study.
[W]hen Ms. Palin was mayor, she hired a lobbying firm that reeled in $25 million in federal earmarks for a city of fewer than 7,000 residents.
Source: "Though Leery of Washington, Alaska Feasts on Its Dollars" By MICHAEL POWELL- NY Times - August 18, 2010
Source: NY Times - 8/18/10