You could not bribe me to live in Alaska in the winter.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/08/national/a152653S14.DTL

Of course the government will just rush in and bail out these people for making such horrible life decisions--living near the arctic circle, Puh-LEASE. We're such a nanny state -- I wonder if their federal taxes cover even a FRACTION of all these costs that we're all going to have to subsidize??? Coast guard cutters to bring in fuel!?!? No wonder Alaska takes out nearly TWICE what they pay in federal taxes!

I'm just tired of this socialized BS--all my tax $$ going off to pay for people who were not smart enough to prepare for winter.

(wondering why the above arguments are never made by the Tea Party/Fox News/Etc)

Yah, I get the point Hank. I was being ironic. I think it's SUPER hypocritical to be a deficit hawk and believe the answer is less government/taxes, and then conveniently forget your fiscal hard-line when YOUR state needs help, or takes vastly more than it contributes.

The difference is I'm arguing for returning our tax rates to historically more sustainable levels so we can actually AFFORD to pay for these things.

We need much less government - unless we need the governments help.