The right thing

Alaska’s big-government champions must be beside themselves today at the prospect of skyrocketing oil prices in the wake of drone attacks that took out half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production.

With the loss of production, worldwide prices are likely to rise. More expensive oil likely would be good news for Alaska in the long term, and the destruction in Saudi Arabia is severe enough that it may be a while before repairs can be made.

Satellite photos of the damage wreaked in what Bloomberg calls the single-worst disruption in oil markets ever indicate it might take months to fix the mess. Even if the shutdown is short term, experts opine that prices will rise because the attack stirred fears of increased risks in the volatile region.

As trade opened today, the price for Brent crude jumped 20 percent. The price for North Slope crude was not immediately available, but it was trading Friday at about $63 a barrel.

You can only hope state officials will be smarter now than the past. A state that for years has wrestled with budget deficits caused by sinking oil prices and unbridled state spending should take a moment to consider what should be done with any short-term or long-term revenue increases caused by the attacks on the Saudi oil facilities.

Alaska seemingly has been plucked from fiscal disaster time and again, saved by this odd turn of events or that causing oil prices to climb. As a state, we simply have breathed a sign of relief, shrugged our shoulders and continued down the path to fiscal ruination by spending more than we get in revenues.

This time around, if prices climb, the powers-that-be should put the brakes on the business-as-usual urge to spend. Pay the statutory Permanent Fund dividend and bank any new revenues for rainy days ahead. It simply would be the smart thing to do.

Any bets?