Sarah Palin left Alaska the worst state

[YumYum]

...to do business in. That is her legacy. Instead of sticking it out as governor and helping her state, she quit and went on a "movie star" tour to become rich. I hope her endorsement of Rand doesn't backfire on him.

The number one state to do business in? Texas, and of course, that is where Ron Paul is from.

CNBC's Top States For Business 2010 -- And the Winner Is Texas

They say everything in Texas is big, and that sure goes for its stature in business.

With the biggest point total in the history of our study, Texas posts a big victory as America's Top State for Business 2010.

Top Five

Texas reclaims the top spot from last year's winner, Virginia, which slips to No. 2. Texas was last on top in 2008, and Virginia took the crown in the inaugural year of our study, 2007. That leaves Texas and Virginia dead even in the battle for bragging rights at two wins apiece.

Rounding out the top five are No. 3 Colorado, No. 4 North Carolina, and No. 5 Massachusetts, which makes its first appearance among America's Top States for Business......................................Alas ka is America's bottom state for business again this year, hampered by its high cost of living, relatively high cost of doing business, and a weak infrastructure.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110078/top-states-for-business-2010?mod=career-selfemployment

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

I think Palin is a undercover agent. It's the only explanation. She is constantly used to discredit the opposition, and in ill faith associates herself with them.

[TheState]

Alaska is America's bottom state for business again this year, hampered by its high cost of living, relatively high cost of doing business, and a weak infrastructure.

To be fair, these don't sound like problems that had to do with Palin, but just with Alaska in general.

[00_Pete]

Doh! Alaska geographical characteristics make it that way. In most of Alaska you have to use air travel to get from one city to another...

[YumYum]

To be fair, these don't sound like problems that had to do with Palin, but just with Alaska in general.

If she had completed her 6 year term and gave it her absolute best, and Alaska was still at the bottom, then she shouldn't be criticized. But she quit with only two years under her belt; half of that time campaigning for VP, and did nothing to help Alaska improve its economy. Outside of becoming a famous political cheerleader, she has accomplished nothing during her time in public service that warrants the attention of the GOP, and the possibility of her becoming president should be of a grave concern to any American who worries about our future.

[00_Pete]

If she had completed her 6 year term and gave it her absolute best, and Alaska was still at the bottom, then she shouldn't be criticized. But she quit with only two years under her belt; half of that time campaigning for VP, and did nothing to help Alaska improve its economy. Outside of becoming a famous political cheerleader, she has accomplished nothing during her time in public service that warrants the attention of the GOP, and the possibility of her becoming president should be of a grave concern to any American who worries about our future.

Just admit that it was dumb of you to ignore Alaska geographic and climate characteristics instead of digging your grave deeper dude...

[Stary Hickory]

Just admit that it was dumb of you to ignore Alaska geographic and climate characteristics instead of digging your grave deeper dude...

Some people have an agenda. Palin is not my idea of the ideal candidate she has some views that are troubling to say the least, but no sense in making krap up about her. She does enough stuff that it's easy to legitimately critisize her.

[akforme]

well our gas went from being below the national average before Palin to the highest in the nation after.

[00_Pete]

well our gas went from being below the national average before Palin to the highest in the nation after.

Are you sure? Because this site http://www.alaskagasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx tells a very different story...

[YumYum]

Are you sure? Because this site http://www.alaskagasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx tells a very different story...

Why are you defending Palin? She is a quitter.

[Icymudpuppy]

What are the criteria that are used to judge best for business?

Also, what kinds of business? I would be happier with a state that is harder for megacorps and easier on small businesses since Megacorps actively use the government to discourage small business competition.

[00_Pete]

Why are you defending Palin? She is a quitter.


Your trolling skills match your understanding of basic economics :D

[YumYum]

Your trolling skills match your understanding of basic economics :D

I'm sorry you are mad at the world. You should forgive your mother for suing you for child support.

edit: I really don't want to get into a childish put down session. If you want a civil discussion on why Alaska has problems economically while it is so rich in resources, I'm game. But if you want to call me a troll and other names I'm really not interested.

[YumYum]

What are the criteria that are used to judge best for business?

Also, what kinds of business? I would be happier with a state that is harder for megacorps and easier on small businesses since Megacorps actively use the government to discourage small business competition.

The article states:

The categories and weightings, for a total of 2,500 points, are:

• Cost of Doing Business (450 points)
• Workforce (350 points)
• Quality of Life (350 points)
• Economy (314 points)
• Transportation & Infrastructure (300 points)
• Technology & Innovation (250 points)
• Education (175 points)
• Business Friendliness (175 points)
• Access to Capital (50 points)
• Cost of Living (25 points)

[erowe1]

If she had completed her 6 year term and gave it her absolute best, and Alaska was still at the bottom, then she shouldn't be criticized.

But since this is stuff that has nothing to do with her, why does her quitting open her up to criticism about it? Does her leaving office also make her responsible for Alaska not having any major professional sports teams?

[YumYum]

But since this is stuff that has nothing to do with her, why does her quitting open her up to criticism about it? Does her leaving office also make her responsible for Alaska not having any major professional sports teams?

Professional sports teams isn't the issue. The economy is the issue. Alaska's biggest problem is that almost the entire state is federal or state owned land, so Alaska has become one of the biggest federal welfare states in the nation. I will give Bush credit for selling off a portion of the national forest to be developed. This was done in order to bring in more technical jobs and increase the population. I also think Bush did it to have more Republicans move to Alaska.

But that is beside the point. I am not aware of anything Palin did to bring more business and jobs to Alaska, and yet there are things that could be implemented that would greatly improve their economy.

[Icymudpuppy]

The article states:

The categories and weightings, for a total of 2,500 points, are:

• Cost of Doing Business (450 points)
• Workforce (350 points)
• Quality of Life (350 points)
• Economy (314 points)
• Transportation & Infrastructure (300 points)
• Technology & Innovation (250 points)
• Education (175 points)
• Business Friendliness (175 points)
• Access to Capital (50 points)
• Cost of Living (25 points)

Cost of Doing Business can vary greatly depending on the type of business. If it is only measuring cost of business licensing and government mandated insurance then it wouldn't be the highest point value on the list and Alaska would get a really good score since a business license in Alaska is cheap. Cost of doing business can be Advertising, Real estate, Fuel expenses, Inventory expenses, etc etc ad nauseum. This category is too broad, and favors megacorps.

Alaska is going to lose 300 points on Transportation and Infrastructure. So is Wyoming, but both are among the freest places to live on the planet.

Have you ever been to Alaska? I lived there for a few years. There aren't many huge box stores up there, but the local retailer is alive and well. I think that says alot about the kind of business this ranking is talking about. The populations are too geographically distributed to support huge centrally located megastores, and so every small community has to have its own general store, minigrocery, hardware, etc because it takes 6-10 hours to get to the Walmart in Anchorage for many Alaska residents, and even in Anchorage, Walmart doesn't do as well as it might in other places.

Texas does well because it is islands of mega-urbanity. You don't have to worry about competition from another town because the next city is 3 hours drive away, but each city is F-ing huge! My drive from west to east texas was like this...

HUGE METROPOLIS of EL PASO... 3 hours of nothing... Small city of Fort Stockton... 3 hours of nothing... HUGE METROPOLIS OF SAN ANTONIO.... 4 hours of nothing... HUGE METROPOLIS OF HOUSTON... 1 hour of nothing... enter into Louisiana border towns Beaumont, Galveston, etc.

[erowe1]

But that is beside the point. I am not aware of anything Palin did to bring more business and jobs to Alaska.

Since when is she supposed to?

I don't see how that's any more in the purview of the governor than wooing sports teams to come to a state is.

Alaska already has the lowest total tax burden of any state.
http://retirementliving.com/RLtaxes.html

Yes, they have tons of government land, which I agree they shouldn't. But they shouldn't sell it, since they have no legitimate ownership of it in the first place, they should just let people homestead it. My guess though, is that doing that wouldn't change much, outside of opening up ANWR, which is federal not state. People aren't beating down Alaska's door to move there, and the thing keeping them away isn't that there's not enough land available there.

And whatever Bush's motives for selling national forest there, I highly doubt that it was to get Republicans to move from other states, where their votes are desperately needed for his party, to Alaska, where Republican politicians are pretty safe.

[YumYum]

Cost of doing business can be Advertising, Real estate, Fuel expenses, Inventory expenses, etc etc ad nauseum. This category is too broad, and favors megacorps.

Alaska is going to lose 300 points on Transportation and Infrastructure. So is Wyoming, but both are among the freest places to live on the planet.

Have you ever been to Alaska? I lived there for a few years. There aren't many huge box stores up there, but the local retailer is alive and well. I think that says alot about the kind of business this ranking is talking about. The populations are too geographically distributed to support huge centrally located megastores, and so every small community has to have its own general store, minigrocery, hardware, etc because it takes 6-10 hours to get to the Walmart in Anchorage for many Alaska residents, and even in Anchorage, Walmart doesn't do as well as it might in other places.

Alaskans had two options: 1) the oil companies exporting Alaska oil would give a yearly royalty check to its citizens, which is at about $3,200 per resident, or 2) they would cut gas prices down below the national average; thus relieving Alaskan's of their high fuel cost.

Palin took the royalty check, and I think that was a mistake. First of all, high gas prices hinder commerce, and second of all, while $3,200 a year is not very much when considering Alaska's cost of living, it sends the wrong message that Alaska is a welfare state and people who want to be dependent on the government will be more inclined to move there.

I would think that cheaper gas, more roads and highways built, more public lands sold off, property taxes cut in Anchorage, and tax credits given to businesses that move to and invest in Alaska would help their economy. Would you agree?

[erowe1]

Alaskans had two options: 1) the oil companies exporting Alaska oil would give a yearly royalty check to its citizens, which is at about $3,200 per resident, or 2) they would cut gas prices down below the national average; thus relieving Alaskan's of their high fuel cost.

Palin took the royalty check, and I think that was a mistake. First of all, high gas prices hinder commerce, and second of all, while $3,200 a year is not very much when considering Alaska's cost of living, it sends the wrong message that Alaska is a welfare state and people who want to be dependent on the government will be more inclined to move there.

I would think that cheaper gas, more roads and highways built, more public lands sold off, property taxes cut in Anchorage, and tax credits given to businesses that move to and invest in Alaska would help their economy. Would you agree?

If the royalty check is welfare, then the cheaper gas is too. The real difference is that with the former, Palin was trusting people to decide for themselves how to spend their money, and with the latter she would have been choosing for them.

You may think that the cheaper gas would be better for the economy because it would lead to the things you listed. But the money in people's pockets would lead to things too, other invisible things that can't be quantified by a central manager but that would be the sum total of millions of individual decisions by people making exchanges with one another according to their own evaluations of what's best for them. That kind of market action is always better than a government trying to steer things in the direction of what it deems economically preferable.

You example of "tax credits given to businesses that move to and invest in Alaska would help their economy" is another similar thing. Governments should never do that. They should just cut taxes across the board instead.

[akforme]

Are you sure? Because this site http://www.alaskagasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx tells a very different story...

WTF, That tells the exact same story, you proved my point. Look at ak, and natinal average for the last 6 years, we were below or right at the national average until Palin's tax, now we are are 15 - 20% higher.

[YumYum]

Since when is she supposed to?

I don't see how that's any more in the purview of the governor than wooing sports teams to come to a state is.

Alaska already has the lowest total tax burden of any state.
http://retirementliving.com/RLtaxes.html

That is a great web site.

If Palin as governor has no part in helping to create jobs in Alaska, why then is she criticizing Obama for not creating more jobs?

I think that a governor ,as a leader, can be very influential as the head of state to encourage more commerce and trade, and to find ways to cut spending and taxes, just like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is currently doing.

Maybe I am wrong, but Alaska looks like a big welfare state. The natives that live there depend on the government, just like our Indian reservations in the lower 48, and they have one of the highest percentages of drug and alcohol abuse. They need to get these people off of the government dole and have them use their talents in producing goods. They need to push Congress to sell off more land, or homestead it. They need to shoot some of the grizzly bears, or relocate them to East Los Angeles.

[erowe1]

If Palin as governor has no part in helping to create jobs in Alaska, why then is she criticizing Obama for not creating more jobs?

She's doing that for political reasons. I'm not defending her overall, just about the charge in the OP.



I think that a governor ,as a leader, can be very influential as the head of state to encourage more commerce and trade, and to find ways to cut spending and taxes, just like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is currently doing.

I don't agree at all with the first part. I don't want my elected officials to be influential leaders. I want them to be invisible. The second part I do agree with. Cutting spending and taxes is the only thing I ever want them to do for the economy. But I don't think those criteria count for as much in that Yahoo list as they do to me.

[erowe1]

WTF, That tells the exact same story, you proved my point. Look at ak, and natinal average for the last 6 years, we were below or right at the national average until Palin's tax, now we are are 15 - 20% higher.

It's so tempting for me to type the acronym of "laughing out loud" right now, and I only refrain out of principle.

That guy completely shot himself in the foot by giving that link.

[JohnEngland]

Instead of sticking it out as governor and helping her state, she quit and went on a "movie star" tour to become rich. I hope her endorsement of Rand doesn't backfire on him.

Oh give it up already. Anyone who has done any reasonable amount of research, and does not simply parrot the mainstream media's talking points about Palin, knows that she did the right thing in resigning.

Her political opponents destroyed any chance of normalcy after the 2008 election.

I'm neither here nor there on Palin but it really irritates me when people mindlessly bash others and simply regurgitate headlines from the media.

[00_Pete]

WTF, That tells the exact same story, you proved my point. Look at ak, and natinal average for the last 6 years, we were below or right at the national average until Palin's tax, now we are are 15 - 20% higher.


It's so tempting for me to type the acronym of "laughing out loud" right now, and I only refrain out of principle.

That guy completely shot himself in the foot by giving that link.

I know the link that i provided, my foot is doing fine... You said that Alaska was below average didnt you?

She was governor for August 2006 to July 2009.

Now go to the website, click on the 4 year and compare with the US national average.

Alaska was NOT "below average" , it was very average before the whole "fuel price crisis" started...now, using very basic economic principals, when the fuel prices started to go up its logical that the states with the worst infrastructure would suffer the worst price increases simply because the costs of fuel distribution to gas stations are higher in places with the worst infrastructure. More fuel spent (fuel that was already increasing prices), more hours of work, more engine and mechanical parts worn, etc...

You made it seem like she unleashed some kind of fuel price disaster when: a) The statistics show otherwise b) When she has nothing to do with it.

If you lack very basic understanding of economics and how economics are related to logistics its not my fault. I can run fine my feet are intact.

[YumYum]

Oh give it up already. Anyone who has done any reasonable amount of research, and does not simply parrot the mainstream media's talking points about Palin, knows that she did the right thing in resigning.

Well, actually you are right. She sucked as governor.


Her political opponents destroyed any chance of normalcy after the 2008 election.

You lost me there. After the 2008 election, her opponets were in the lower 48 and she went back to Alaska where, given time, would have been forgotten.


I'm neither here nor there on Palin but it really irritates me when people mindlessly bash others and simply regurgitate headlines from the media.

The one who made a federal case about her being a "quitter" was Jesse Ventura, who gave a great speech in support of the Liberty movement in MN when Ron Paul was running for pres. I wouldn't count him as MSM.

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Pretty sure any article indicating that Massachussets is the fifth best state to conduct business in has a methodology problem and is not to be taken seriously.

WY, MT, NH, are all easier and better to start a business in than VA & MA lol.

[silverhandorder]

YumYum why are you wasting our time? We are going to vote for Ron Paul anyways. This is not a Sarah Palin support forum.

If you must go out of your way to attack republicans go to daily kos or DU they will surely appreciate your insights.

[John Basiglone]

Palin's association with and de facto participation in the Republican Party is nothing but a boon and bonus to the Democratic Party.

[YumYum]

YumYum why are you wasting our time? We are going to vote for Ron Paul anyways. This is not a Sarah Palin support forum.

If you must go out of your way to attack republicans go to daily kos or DU they will surely appreciate your insights.

Who said I am wasting "our" time? We seem to be having a lively discussion here. If this thread is a waste of "your" time: don't read it.

BTW, I will vote for Ron Paul also, so I have know idea what you are talking about.

[John Basiglone]

Early in McCain's presidential campaign, especially when McCain was catching B.H.O. in the polls, I told them McCain will throw this election and that he is not in this race to win. When he picked Palin, I was even more emphatic in my position that he was surely tossing the election and handing it over to the jr. senator from Ill. McCain's treachery was and is always motivated by marching orders from his masters, none who give a damn about the citizens' liberty and the sovereignty of this country.

The writing is on the wall, if you ever wonder why the German People accepted Adolph and allowed him to bring death and destruction upon their nation, then just look at the American People, they are no better. Just don't blame those of the Democratic faith, the Republican faithful fail to see the deceit and treason of their party leaders and candidates.

Palin, may at first have been an innocent pawn of the evil cabal directing the destruction of our once great nation, but I would not doubt, after the pres. election, she was given an offer to lucrative to refuse, Satan offered her an apple and she gobbled it up, only this time the apple was multi-million $ book deals, talk shows, face time everywhere. Who knows, she still may not realize she is the finest arrow in the Dems' campaign quiver.

[LibertyVox]

She killed this song forever. My human rights were violated :(

YouTube - jefferson starship - sara (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqRTtkEHrA4)

[Promontorium]

1. Her endorsement of Rand was like 43 years ago. Why are you bringing it up like he hasn't already won the primary, I had to check when you started this thread.


2. I want a "worst state" that gives me money for being a resident. Also, if California isn't dead last for small businesses, or businesses overall, then it isn't an accurate list. They kill people for being business owners here. It's worse than being a child molestor. Don't ever say you own a business in California, they will slit your throat, legally. You will bleed money.

[John Basiglone]

"Give me Liberty or give me death", well since I am a husband and father with a wonderful wife and 3 beautiful children, give me Liberty or at least give me Alaska. If I could, I would move to Alaska in a minute. I have been there during the winter, spring and summer and loved the state. Sure I loved its beauty and splendor, but it was the sense of "pioneer spirit", the rugged individualism of the state's citizens and "live and let live" attitude.

As I now live in California, born and raised except for the times I was away in the military(USMC and USAF), I have seen a state that was once like Alaska become a decadent cesspool. California, is now a socialist "police state". The government workers earn much more than their private sector counterparts and their pensions are out of this world. Check out the wages and pension of these public servants and see how outrageously out of whack they are from the public sector; my wife earn six figures as a high school counselor/teacher, where she works only 9 months a year and her pension will be close to her annual salary. Good for us, bad for the state. Don't blame me, I vote against all school bond measures and any tax increases, when her teacher union propaganda magazines and bulletins arrive in our mailbox, I promptly throw them in the trash before bringing the rest of the daily mail into the house.

My wife is a resident alien and Canadian citizen, who came to the U.S. as she was recruited and hired by a California school district that would go to Canada and recruit teachers at job fairs in that country. I used to jibe and kid my wife about the Canadian socialist economy, the poor Canadian Dollar and the high taxes, socialized health care and lack of liberty that we enjoyed in the U.S. Ironically, today the U.S., especially the liberal controlled states like California, are not much different than our socialist brethren north of the 49th parallel.

[Kotin]

Your trolling skills match your understanding of basic economics :D

its quite funny when you call someone a troll.