Five issues have made southcentral Alaska news over the past few days that, tied together, paint a picture of a people in total denial: A seeming unwillingness by Alaskans and their lawmakers to adequately fund higher education in the sciences; the promotion to the job of Alaska's wildlife director of a man deemed by dozens of wildlife management professionals to be unqualified; the selection of an unimaginative military functionary to guide our universities through trying times; the continuing and deepening commitment by Alaska's national delegation, including Sen. Mark Begich, to fight off scientists who seek to find long-term solutions for survival of the Cook Inlet Belugas; and the announcement that the company proposing development of the Chuitna coal fields just doesn't give a damn if they destroy prime salmon streams and habitat for the next 35,000 years.So many scenarios, playing out simultaneously, I can imagine us - Alaskans - as inhabiting a huge theme park, managed by people who listen to Anchorage right-wing talk radio, and paid for by corporations who feel it is in their interests to manage not just the animals, but the people too, for maximum yield. The people, just like the moose and caribou, are here for maximum sustainable yield of corporate profits by foreign-owned cruise ship companies, foreign-owned oil conglomerates, foreign-owned mining companies, foreign-owned mega-fishing fleets, and - soon - foreign-controlled gas pipelines and LNG plants.
Our politicians and corporate leaders have no intention of turning southcentral Alaska into anything more modern than it has to be to serve their corporate interests. Aging, visionary leaders like Wally Hickel and Vic Fischer are marginalized by our current political leadership.
Watching the 2010 gubernatorial campaigns shape up, the flight of funding to those most in favor of managing Alaska's human population for the abundance of profits by foreign-owned companies isn't very startling. Nor have been the moves by Alaska's right-wing elected legislators in Juneau to keep oversight over corporate contributions in the post Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission world from occurring in a rational way. It is frustrating, though, to see so few Alaskans willing to stand up and fight for our rights to not be treated as if we were so many moose and caribou, being unscientifically managed, and being skinned and mounted on the walls of corporate offices in Tokyo, Oslo, Vancouver, London, Hong Kong or the Caymen Islands.
Meanwhile, here's a song for our newest improbable State Director, Corey Rossi:
22 comments:
"The people, just like the moose and caribou, are here for maximum sustainable yield of corporate profits by foreign-owned cruise ship companies, foreign-owned oil conglomerates, foreign-owned mining companies, foreign-owned mega-fishing fleets, and - soon - foreign-controlled gas pipelines and LNG plants."
Typical nativist, racist comment from the fringes of society. Why whip-up hatred of foreigners ? Because they look different from you ? Because they come to this country seeking their fortunes ? This is 2010 not 1910 and these kind of bigoted comments belong in the dustbin of history.
to Anonymous@9:48 am:
If they came to this country they wouldn't be foreign anymore.
These are companies that are profiting from Alaskan industry then taking the profits OUT of Alaska.
Those profits should remain in Alaska for the furtherance of Alaska's economy.
"These are companies that are profiting from Alaskan industry then taking the profits OUT of Alaska. "
Oh, so every cent a person or company makes has to be spent in a certain area ? How regionalist, how nativist ! So much for the Left's cries that we are all one human race, that national boundaries should mean nothing. So let's get this straight....all monies made in a certain state should be spent in that state and not transferred out of the country...is that what you're demanding ?
doesn't this constitute an oligarchy, "a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes; also : a group exercising such control" (thanks, merriam-webster.com!!!)? in fact, now i'm certain that alaska is an oligarchy. what happened to democracy? hmm? hmm????
What is funny on this whole conversation is that a not insignificant percentage of the profits generated by the ANCSA regional and village corporations, which now account for about 50% of the revenues of Alaska-based corporations,come from resources and projects OUTSIDE of Alaska.
Carry that attitude of not in my backyard to every other place or region in the world, and you quickly end up with a mighty backward looking world.
And how much of the average persons retirement portfolio or the state's PF is invested only in Alaska based companies, versus companies that generate a substantial portion of its revenues OUTSIDE of Alaska.
Should we all ditch Apple or Google stock cause it isn't based solely in Alaska and revenues come from a global business approach.
It takes about two seconds to process just how inane, insane and down right stupid the thought is.
Come on, you can do better than this.
Write about Project Labor Agreements that seek to put Alaskans through local hire to work, but cut the crap on the economic redneckism.
Those ANCSA corporations don't keep that money in Alaska. To say otherwise is just funny.
One of them just invested $10 million with Oaktree Capital - for buying up toxic mortgages.
They certainly don't "trickle it down" to the villages. They most don't invest their profits in Alaska - they get federal grants to meet their "social and cultural" obligations.
Most of their bank accounts for the billions in no-bid contracts are out-of-state. If not all.
Just like they recruit all their "Executives" from out-of-state, they keep their money in out-of-state banks.
Just because they make a paper profit from a company who is a registered corporation in Alaska doesn't make them "Alaskan".
It's no different than the cruise lines making profits on Alaska and bypassing Alaskans in the process. That money is not reinvested in this state by any stretch of the imagination.
Welcome to the Company Store.
Phil I'm tired of this Corporate Hyposcrisy, in fact go to www.HypocrisyIncorporated.com Fagan is their foot soldier. The battle line is drawn!
anony @3:05-
ANSCA regional corporations are like any other for-profit corporation excepting having stipulations about who may be a shareholder.
As such they have NO obligation to villages who may contain their shareholders. Most of the ANSCA corporations endow a non-profit arm to provide some assistance to shareholders outside quarterly dividends .
The grants for social services to villages are an entirely seperate and different thing. They flow from the Self Determination Act of 1975 whereby the fed allows tribal entities to contract and provide for services previously provided for them by the BIA.
It is the nature of the post ANSCA beastie in Alaska that we have ended up with over 200 recognized tribes . There are a lot of problems with that .
One of the most persistent is the belief that the Regional Corps have any responsibility to villages- legally they do not.
Regional Corps are not feeder organizations for village corporations though it is a commonly held belief.
Now- some CDQs have developed feeder for-profits to fish their own allocations in the Bering Sea and feed $$ into the non-profit parent corporations...
I don't know exactly where Phil is going here but I think Alaska is stuck in the development / resource paradigm that swept America post WWII and has brought so many troubles to our neighbors down south. As more folks wrestle with what-to-do-now questions about fouled up water, loss of fisheries, loss of wetlands and their value, etc- south of us, we are digging in and holding onto the same-old-gobbeldygook which got them where they are now...
We are way too proud of our myth of independence and toughness to open our eyes to what we are doing...
Looks like after they get rid of whales, bears, wolves, wildlife in general, environmentalists, and the rest of the 'pesky' lifeforms here, the state will be open for total annihilation by the extractors of minerals and raw materials. Big business has turned our state into a third world country already and consideration for the natural people/wildlife/fish who live here is not on the corporate agenda unless it's to exploit.
The ANCSA corporations lobby the federal government HEAVILY for no-bid, no-limit defense contracts. Billions upon billions. I've seen allegations of corporate espionage when they entice "joint ventures" and "partnerships" only to steal the business model and grab all the contracts on the backside - excluding their so-called partners.
Over and over again they send representatives in full Native regalia to implore lawmakers to give billions in these no-bid contracts and bill the ANCSA corps as stewards of the Native culture. It's in all the transcripts.
They may have no legal obligation to the villages but they sure exploit the hell out of them in the pursuit of "profit".
Only, I don't think they are turning a profit. I have a sinking feeling that we are all going to find out (too late) that they mismanaged their windfall and there is nothing left.
But really a few white guys made all the money at the top and took the money and ran. If we start naming these guys now we might be able to salvage the best intentions of ANCSA.
Anon 2:52
Boy are you missing the Chuitna coal mine point here, probably on purpose.
This is a discussion about the natural resources of the state, belonging the state which is outlined in our constitution. You are doing the apple / oranges thing in bringing up anything else.
http://law.justia.com/alaska/constitution/constitution-8.html
"But really a few white guys made all the money at the top and took the money and ran."
Dumb knee-jerk racist bullshit. So no Chinese, Nigerian or Arab businessmen ever rip people off? This kind of pathetic lazy racism is what is splitting our country apart. Greedy people come in all colors, sizes, religions........the attempt by the Left to portray only whites as being capable of evil is disgusting.
@Anon 9:23 PM
Have you seen the executive lineup of the ANCSA corporations?
and Martha I agree, but the reality is the people pulling the strings (or breaking the knees) are the same ones auctioning off every last resource (be it game, petroleum, mineral) because they don't intend to hang out long enough to witness the harm.
Between the railbelt gas line and the Chuitna (and Sutton) coal plans - I can't remember the last time so many "get rich quick" schemes were put into place so quickly.
We just gotta get these people out of office and the only way is to get real Alaskans to run for progressive office.
"Have you seen the executive lineup of the ANCSA corporations? "
No, and what has their appearance got to do with anything ?
Yet more lazy racism.
@ Anon 9:23
I am in agreement that many of the Native Corps have lost their way and sight of their original missions. I am a shareholder in one of the largest, and management has been agressive in acting like a bunch of white guys, and not like a native owned corporation, for many long years. CEOs making way too much money, doing very little in the way of shareholders services, and suing or threatening to sue anyone who opposes management. Doing LOTS of business outside the state and wanting to retain the profits within the corp.
I've watched the two larger Corps in SE Alaska end up in the middle of questionable resource management and practices on a regular basis.
I also do contract work for another small Native Corp, which has a white guy as Pres who is a complete jerk to everyone around him, except who ever he is buttering up at the moment with his investor hubris.
Others are just poorly run, or don't act as though they are accountable to anyone.
It is a HUGE problem in our state - I believe they have truly fallen off the path, but that's a different fight for another day.
My use of "white guy" is not meant in the least to be racist - I am mostly that myself. I use it to describe an attitude of management who are not "connected" to the idea and visions of the Native Corps which could thrive by staying closer to home and providing a lot more shareholder opportunities and services.
An example of this is that my corporation, under original or early management, welcomed shareholders to the offices warmly. There were programs to meet shareholders coming in from the Bush, or rural Alaska with language translation, lodging, bus fares and other assistance as needed to "soften the culture shock".
This is only one example of what they have lost now, being very disconnected from the people they were created to benefit. "White guy" to me describes an attitude which is unaware, and uncaring, of these Native values which should very much infused into the corporate structure. It's not in the least racist, and I love my white guy husband, dad and grandfather.
I meant to reply to Anon 9:46, not 9:23. Dang.
"White guy" to me describes an attitude which is unaware, and uncaring, of these Native values which should very much infused into the corporate structure. It's not in the least racist, and I love my white guy husband, dad and grandfather."
So you would have no problem in someone saying "Black guy" in describing an attitude about child-rearing or inner city crime which is how most racists portray African-American men.
Of course what you are saying is racist. Are you telling me that there are no corrupt Nigerian businessmen on bank boards ? No corrupt Latinos in South American corporations ?
"I also do contract work for another small Native Corp, which has a white guy as Pres who is a complete jerk to everyone around him,"
I work for a company which has a Korean guy as Manager who is a complete jerk but none of us go around saying "typical yellow guy'" attitude. You are a bigot.
Apples and oranges - I am talking about ANCSA Native Corps only.
"I am a shareholder in one of the largest, and management has been agressive in acting like a bunch of white guys,"
"I am talking about ANCSA Native Corps only."
Really ? In your first quote above you say "acting like a bunch of white guys" . You don't say "acting like those white guys in the ANCSA Native Corps". The implication in you first quote is that ALL white guys are aggressive and corrupt - that is racism, pure and simple.
Way off topic, a waste of my time. The poster I replied to is not you but another Alaskan. I couldn't care less if you know nothing of ANCSA, since you seem to just be trying to pull my pigtails. Silly you.
So basically you have no answer to my charge of racism? Silly you.
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