text: Don you know that 'cost of living' isn't the problem.
  
  What accounts for Alaska's high spending is programs Washington and Oregon do a better job of resisting.
  
  And that's the subsidizing of private business concerns using public money by way of direct subsidies, tax breaks and state sponsored corporate welfare programs.
  
  It's not just Walker and friends who want to get into our wallets to keep that going, it's a prime directive of the Republican legislature and has been for about 3 decades now.