text: The majority of the problem, as I see it, is that we ONLY look at oil and gas.  With the allowed characters, I'll probably end up making more than one comment.
  
  Alaska is a natural resource state that continually allows itself to be treated like a third world country, i.e. raw materials are exported somewhere else and we buy back value-added products at a substantially higher price.  I pointed most of this out to our elected officials two years in a row, with a thoughtful response from a couple of legislators.
  
  I think one of the first things that should occur is that legislators should not be paid a per diem if they have not passed a budget in the 90 days session.  I think they should be fined.  I also think we should have a commission that sets their salaries and per diem commensurate with other state employees and perhaps even looking at other states.
  
  The legislature needs to be housed in ANCHORAGE and stop all business from occurring where constituents cannot easily access.