Sarah Palin In Trouble As Oil Prices Fall: AP

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Huffington Post

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's first two years in office have been called a time of milk and honey, when the resource-rich state was flush with wealth from record oil prices.

The second half of her term isn't looking so rosy as Palin faces her first major financial challenge as governor.

The rapid decline of oil prices has left the state in a looming budget crisis and a late-entrant in the national recession. And that could have political repercussions for the former Republican vice presidential hopeful, who has signaled an interest in a 2012 presidential run but must stay visible in the Lower 48 to be successful.

"Given these bad times, she's going to have a much more difficult time traveling outside Alaska," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "When times are good, people will let their governor roam. In bad times, citizens expect their governor to stay home and work on solving the problems."

Oil accounts for as much as 90 percent of state revenues. So the plunge of North Slope crude from an all-time high of $144.59 per barrel last July threatens to give the state an estimated budget shortfall of up to $1.5 billion in the fiscal year that ends June 30.



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/17/sarah-palin-in...

[Donnachaidh]

1. Better dust off that flute Sarah

And find a sunny street corner

[RamboLiberal]

3. Bet she'll be pal'in around with that terrorist Obama

to get her some of that evil stimulus money!

[Donnachaidh]

7. she's just dumb enough to think she could get away with it.

I hope she does -- even more SNL skits coming out of that maneuver

[Raine]

13. yeah and start practicing that fancy pageant

walking.

[goclark]

20. That is funny ~ get to tooting Sarah

LOL

[AndyA]

2. Let me see if I can muster up any sympathy for Gov. Palin...

Hmmm...







Nope, none there...






Ah-hah! No, sorry, none there either...





No, I got nothing. I feel for the people of Alaska who were smart and didn't vote for her, because they deserve better than what they've got. But the rest of them...still nothing.

[RamboLiberal]

5. Wonder how much that refund check will be this year

She might have a pissed off population on her hands. And they'll get more pissed if she's galavanting around running for the Prez nom for 2012.

[rpannier]

4. Drill baby Drill

I think that's her solution for everything

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Yeah - let's drill baby drill

and flood the market with even more crude so that the price finally plummets to what it was when Shrub took office - $27/bbl. She'll love that!

[jmowreader]

16. Except she doesn't have time to drill baby drill

They need money now, not a year from now.

[daggahead]

17. Well hell, some nice tax cuts should help, right? n/t

[Cha]

30. Yeah, how's that drillin'

working for wolfkiller now?

[Wickerman]

6. lol

[CatholicEdHead]

9. She can see the budget crunch from her window

[harry_pothead]

10. Maybe she'll take a page out of Indecent Proposal

and have sex with billionare conservatives to make up the shortfall.

It would be maverickey Sarah's chance to personally roll up her sleeves and pull up her state.

[biopowertoday]

11. Looks like she invested prudently for the current meltdown.

so I am not counting on her to be in too much trouble. Just saying.

............Palin, who has not said if she will run for re-election as governor in 2010, said that dealing with the oil wealth was actually her first significant challenge. It meant reining in government spending sprees and making "sure that we were living within our means and putting money aside for a rainier day."

The state has socked away $1 billion in an education fund for the next school year and education officials say another $1 billion is expected go into the fund this year for future use. More billions went into state savings as well, Palin said.

"We're more prepared than other states because of the prudence there," Palin said recently. "We crossed that first hurdle."

The state currently has $6.6 billion in its constitutional budget reserve fund that it could tap into. A few billion dollars more also is available from other pockets, said Juneau economist Gregg Erickson, a longtime Alaska budget watcher.

Given Alaska's robust reserves, the state is well-prepared to weather the next two years, Erickson said. As to how long reserves will last after that, there are too many factors involved to say for sure.

[acmavm]

21. Do those poor, starving natives who's livlihood took a dump so they're

having to decide between heating oil and food KNOW ABOUT ALL THIS MONEY????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. Don't worry people! She has more "executive experience" than the whole US Congress

[ChromeFoundry]

22. maybe if she...

taps her shoes three times and says, "mavericky, mavericky, maaaa-ver-icky," all those problems will just go away.

[depakid]

14. Them that rise by the sword- perish by the sword

or some such thing.

—Matthew 26:52, neo-King James version.

[Catch22Dem]

15. Please let her run in 2012

PLEASE!!!!!

[ejbr]

18. Now Alaskans will see how fucking stupid this bitch is n/t

[Generator]

19. My first thought:

Stupidity and overbreeding causes oil prices to fall, who knew?

[No Elephants]

23. If the info in post 11 is accurate, Palin will come out of this with higher ratings.

[Tempest]

28. She had nothing to do with it

It was a result of bills started and passed by the Legislature.

All she did was sign her name to them.

[callous taoboy]

24. Feh, milk and honey. Not if you taught up there, in Anchorage at least-

I taught there from 91 to 99 and we were always battling for pay increase to keep up with the cost of living. Some of those schools were so old and worn out it was pathetic, then they'd cram as many kids into a classroom as they could. Same story everywhere. Milk and honey....Feh.

[JerseygirlCT]

25. Oh easy! She should just cut taxes out entirely

that always solves the problem, right?

(insert eyeroll here)

[StarryNite]

26. The Alaskan wildlife better hide.

She might want to take out her frustrations by killing them. Oh, wait, she does that anyway. Run wolves!

[Tempest]

27. She based Alaska's 2009 budget on $74/barrel oil

The shortfall for next year's budget is going to be huge.

[Cha]

29. Oh too bad, palin doesn't get to

hawk her lies her fauxsn00ze..every week.