ND Wins Big -- Or Do We?

“Why is everything so bad right now Mom?” my daughter asked while we were making supper and listening to the evening news recently. “Why are they always talking about how bad everything is?”

I hadn’t considered how the constant news about crisis and tragedy might sound to our kids … So began my attempt to explain our country’s economic woes to a 1st grader.

My child is confused by the constant doomsday talk not only because she’s seven but because she doesn’t really see or feel the pain here in North Dakota.

No, we aren’t completely isolated. Some dear friends are leaving our neighborhood, in part to shelter themselves from the recession. My husband survived two reductions-in-force last year and his company was recently bought out, promising more cutbacks. So, our future has some concerning question marks.

But despite some layoffs and evidence of slowdown, North Dakota stands like an economic fortress among the houses of cards that are toppling throughout the United States. North Dakota has a $1 billion budget surplus, abundant jobs and among the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.

Considering the steady financial position of North Dakota, I was among those disturbed by news from our Congressional delegation last week that North Dakota will receive $493 million in “formula funding” from the economic stimulus package.

Formula funding is one of those government terms that we tune out. It must be code for money distributed without consideration of need.

“Per capita, only two states do better,” a news release from Sen. Kent Conrad glowed. “These resources will be invested in North Dakota’s highways and bridges, our law enforcement agencies, our growing energy sector, and our children’s school lunch programs.”

Fine. North Dakotans will probably spend it more wisely than most. But I thought the point of the package was to stimulate troubled economies? With some states near collapse, should North Dakota with a record budget surplus be among the biggest winners per capita of stimulus money?

I know North Dakota won’t reject the money, but I’d like to see us return part of it. For instance, our share includes about $25 million for the State Energy Program. Compare this to the program’s current annual budget of about $250,000 and you’ll understand why some people in state government question whether we will be able to responsibly spend all of this money. That's a 10,000 percent increase in just one program in one small state.

Examples like this undermine confidence in this approach. I'm plagued with questions about it. How can a 30 percent increase in the entire federal budget be debated, passed and signed into law in less than one month? Will we ever pay it back? Who are we beholden to for this debt? Are we the Soviet Union of the 21st Century, spending our way to prosperity while we mortgage our financial systems to a future world power like China?

Another side of me is just curious, as an outside observer might be, to witness what kind of effect this massive spending plan will have on our nation. Is it bold and brilliant or the beginning of a long and painful demise?

Plenty of people are making predictions, but no one really knows. Ultimately, all of the nay saying, cheering and predictions in the news doesn’t matter. We are in an economic, political and social experiment of historic proportions, and only history will determine whether it works.

My daughter feels isolated from the economic crisis today, and I hope that continues to be the case. Most of all, I pray it doesn’t fall squarely on her lap when she’s raising a first grader of her own.