PFD checks boost economy, morale

Last week, the Valley, and the rest of Alaska, experienced the largest payday of the year when the permanent fund dividend checks hit the banks.

The financial boom the PFDs cause is immediately noticeable. Retailers plan their entire marketing strategies around the month of October and consumers do the same with their annual budgets.

The Valley alone was injected with nearly $114 million, thanks to the dividend checks. The economy of the Valley gets a good shot in the arm to start the winter, and the effects are dramatic. And morale takes an upward turn as well, even though the darkest months of the year are ahead.

Money brought to the Valley through the PFD program is vital. While many people use the money for big-ticket items such as cars, snowmachines and computers, many others put the money away for their children's college education, invest it, use the money to provide a great Christmas for their families or budget their checks so the money will be available to help them get through the winter months.

Those are the real benefits of the permanent fund program. It gives a little financial breathing room to people who may not ordinarily be able to afford everything their families need.

Last winter, talks around the state focused on a plan that would give one big dividend check to each Alaskan, before abolishing the dividend checks we get every year. The check we would have received last week would have been huge, $25,000, and the impact of that money certainly would have been felt for years.

But by getting a dividend check every October, we ensure the effects of the PFD will be felt for decades, rather than a few years.

The PFD program is uniquely Alaskan, and it should stay that way. The program is working just fine the way it is - just ask the retailers and consumers who count on it each year.

Editorials are written by the Frontiersman's editorial board, consisting of Kari Sleight, Tracy Wilson, Eowyn LeMay Ivey, Casey Ressler, Eric Burkett, Rindi White, Jo Goode and Gene Jansen.