About the Party

The American Party of Alaska is stiving to become affiliated with The American Party of America, recently founded by Elon Musk. 

We agree that the two party system has failed to represent  Americans and Alaskans due to horrible financial management of the citizens money. 

On a national level, America is currently $37 trillion in debt through consistent legislative actions of both Republican and Democrat representatives. Currently, we spend more on servicing the interest on the national debt than we spend on our entire national defense budget.  This is unsustainable. 

Here in Alaska, while it appears we are on sound financial ground due to a Permanent Fund investment which approaches $80 billion, our government excess spending is far from solvent. Both Democrats and Republicans seem to display "interchangeable" parts when it comes to party allegiance. No matter what party affiliation candidates and legislators have, both parties are unaccountable to both the money expended and any form of accountability and efficiency.  

A look at the numbers:

In 2015 our Constitution Budget Reserve (CBR) was $10,101,380,473.00. By 2022 this reserve had shrunk to $914,499,659.00 due to excessive tapping of the reserve by representatives legislating for additional government services. Keep in mind, the State Constitution mandates that this fund must be fully restored. Currently, there is no plan for restoration.  

The Earnings Reserve Account (ERA) Has been used to distribute the Permanent Fund Dividend. Alaska State Statute was created to determine the amount each eligible citizen would receive each year.  From 1982 until 2014, this formula was effectively in place until Governor Walker contested the direct payout. As a consequence, the issue went to the Alaska Supreme Court which clarified that the legislature had authority over all appropriations. From this point forward, the majority in the legislature has ignored existing statutes governing the payout and began to appropriate what they considered "affordable" for the citizen. A larger portion of the Earnings Reserve became a reserve to fund additional and expanding government services. The specific reason why a traditional PFD is not paid per statutory directive is an unquenched desire to fund government programs representatives consider more essential than a citizen's direct return on the mineral resource. 

In 2018 the Legislature created a POMV draw based on 5% of the market value of the Permanent Fund corpus. Currently, this draw has not exceeded earnings from the ERA but it is simply a matter of time. A direct indicator this reserve is in financial distress is the diminished PFD over the last 10 years. Each citizen of Alaska has been taxed over $14,000 during this time in lost income from a diminished PFD. 

Additionally, there is a legitimate argument whether the POMV draw is constitutional as it uses the corpus of the Permanent Fund to determine the 5% draw. The Permanent Fund is owned by the citizens of Alaska, not the legislature. This is precisely why it is locked in the State Constitution. At the very least, in order for the legislature to use the corpus, there should have been an advisory vote of the citizens of Alaska. 

Currently, there is legislation being considered which would extinguish the ERA account all together and just create a direct draw from the corpus. This legislative move would ignore the rightful financial property of the Permanent Fund. It would only be a matter of a few years that current and future legislators would drain the entire fund based on their financial appetite.