IPFS News Link • Economy - Economics USA
IPFS News Link • Economy - Economics USA
Sarah Palin has long sold herself as a fiscal conservative, arguing against the Democrats' health overhaul on the grounds that the nation simply can't afford it.
But
when the former vice presidential candidate resigned as governor of
Alaska in the summer of 2009, she left the state with a 70 percent
debt-to-GDP ratio -- the highest state debt burden in the United States.
That's according to data compiled by the Washington Independent's Megan Carpentier,
who notes that Alaska has a debt burden similar to "that of Jordan and
Palin’s favorite health care resource, Canada, and a higher ratio
than Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, India, the Philippines or Uruguay."
By comparison,
crisis-stricken California has a debt ratio of less than 40 percent.
All the more confounding about Alaska's debt is the fact that it is an
oil-producing region with a small population to share in that wealth.
Oil-rich Alberta, Canada, for example, collects no sales tax and still
managed to retire its debt entirely in 2004.
While
Alaska's massive debt burden can't be blamed entirely on Palin's
two-and-a-half-year stint as governor, she did face similar debt
problems while mayor of Wasilla, and those appear to be of her own
making.