There are intelligent people on both sides of the issue. But there are also a number of prominent Alaskan Republicans opposed to the governor's approach. And he was a Conoco Philips lobbyist before he became governor.
So, my proposal for you is to come up with a plan to create jobs for $2 billion a year. The idea would be to create jobs for Alaskans, jobs that would put money back into the Alaskan economy, and ideally jobs that would ultimately make Alaska a better place to live, to have a business, and to visit. The best plan would create the most jobs at a decent wage and the jobs would add value to Alaska, not take it away. Add value because what people would do would make our lives better and because they would be Alaskans who would spend their wages in Alaska. The money wouldn't, for example, be sent to corporate shareholders outside of Alaska.
The issue won't be over Tuesday, so you have some time to think about this. If I get ten or more proposals, I'll pass them along to the governor's office, and perhaps I'll post them here too. Let your imagination run wild. For instance I did a post (can't find it though) on this theme showing that for $2 billion a year you could hire every unemployed Alaskan and give them each $30,000 a year for their labor. Not a great salary, but it gives you a sense that there are probably great alternatives to what the oil companies DON'T promise to do.
Consider this a filler activity - something to think about while you're waiting for the light to change, or at the post office or bank, or wherever you spend time waiting. You can post your responses as comments or email them to me.
I know. Nobody has time to do something like this, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to give the governor and the legislators other ways to use the $2 billion the governor wants to give to the oil companies. You've got until November 15 to send it to me.
The answer lies within the minds of the Alaskan residents. My proposal is to untapped those ideas and help the best of them find a path to reality, all using a model proven to create tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of value, all from far less than $2 billion in investment. It goes like this...
ReplyDelete1- Invite Alaskans to Share their ideas in 2013. 2- Each month, pick the best 10 ideas and 3- Invest $50,000 in each. 4- Invite the innovator and his/her team over to Anchorage for the first two months, to train and mentor the teams, and to help polish the idea to make it more likely to succeed. 5- After going home, offer each team $100,000 of investment. In 12 months 120 ideas will be tried, costing in total less than 1% of the $2 billion. If just 1 in 4 companies grows to just 10 employees, 400 jobs will have created. Elsewhere, this system sees well over 75% of companies continue for more than a year averaging over 5 new jobs per company.
Take this, and the next five ideas posted here which cost under $2 billion and try them all...
I have been writing and distributing my “United Alaska Campaigner” newsletter for 28 years. Over the years I have learned many hard lessons. My January 2012 issue contains part 4 of my Alaska Emergency Employment Mobilization series. If you are serious about learning how to end the onrushing world depression and create jobs in Alaska this is required reading.
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Download the original for best viewing and printing. Remember to load legal sized paper for the best printing.
I am currently writing part 5 “Alaska’s Industrial Science Policy.” After almost three decades of research on this issue very few people are at my knowledge level and my hope is that it will become the long-term strategic blueprint for job creation in Alaska.
Charles E. Duncan
Luni and Charles, thanks for you suggestions. Luni, your specifics make a lot of government programs look ridiculous. Charles, you've got lots and lots of stuff which I did check out after talking to you last spring. Thanks for linking it here.
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