Comments on: Tough Decisions Ahead for State Budgets

By: John

John — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 23:50:06 +0000

I stand with you Senator Lora Reinbold.

By: william ahrens

william ahrens — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 11:27:51 +0000

I view our state budget and legislature as “Jabba the Hut” in Star Wars, an immense, ugly beast that resists being moved by its shear weight. I’ve lost faith that anything can be done to rid ourselves of this burden. Lobbyists, spend and tax politicians and public indifference and ignorance are our enemies. The last plebiscite here in Anchorage proved to me we’re probably doomed I’m afraid. We had something like a 28% turnout and passed every bond issue. Spendowitz is probably jumping with glee. I read in the paper and in Facebook comments from largely ignorant people stating they want income and or sales taxes. I detest public employee unions, who lavish their minions with benifits not common in the average civilian work environment, such as 4 day work weeks, lavish benifit packages I cant afford for my employees and excellent retirement all burdens we’ll be saddled with for decades. The costs associated with medical care in Alaska are prohibitive, and I suspect the highest in the world. I had knee surgery, which cost $100,000 plus! I admire your tenacity Laura and encourage you to continue the fight. I just wish there were more of you state and local.

By: Andrew Brewer

Andrew Brewer — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 04:04:31 +0000

This is all true. However, the current corona crisis is leading us into an unprecedented shutdown of at least half the state’s economy. The business shut downs were gov’t mandated. But the Government’s response has lead to some assertions that “you better not count on the Government during this crisis.” When the moratoriums are over, where will our economy be ? We need to know what is really happening with the response by Gov’t to the economic crisis. We are hearing that the tipping point for many businesses has already been reached… And 53.2% of all employed work for small business…

By: Kelli

Kelli — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 03:31:22 +0000

Thank you Senator Reinbold for sharing insights into how we arrived at this financial crisis.