Our Opinion/ Carpe diem like never before!

By John Strand
Staff Writer

Imagine for a moment you were on stage. Strutting and fretting, but your moment, nonetheless. Fame. Good Fortune right around the corner. Money in the bank, bills paid, even your neighbors in better stead than pretty much most the rest of the people of world, billions of ‘em. And what are you going to do in that moment? Will you get a perfect 10, or will you slip and flounder?

North Dakota is going on stage next, so to speak, and the moment of moments is upon us. This week’s cover story provides additional insight into the state of North Dakota’s economy. Whatever we as North Dakotans do next has the potential to deliver those perfect 10 scores, if we have it in our heart, and that’s our focus. If not, simply put, we’ll fall flat on our face and forever look back at that time way back when we shoulda, woulda, coulda, but didn’t.

Some context.

Historically speaking, for years agriculture was the tail wagging the dog in North Dakota’s economy. The pendulum, however, has swung west and these days it’s oil that is the economic engine. Ag products, we remind you, are renewable, and we have new crops each year. Oil, continuing in that train of thought, is a one-time harvest. And what’s happening now in our state due to oil presents nothing less than an opportunity of a lifetime.

Our Legislative Assembly is now in session. Last biennium, lawmakers were looking at an $800 million influx of revenues from the oil industry. Nearly 10 percent, $71 million of that, went directly into the state’s $3.2 billion general fund.

In the current biennium, oil tax revenues are expected to generate $2 billion. That’s $1.2 billion more than we had last biennium.

It behooves us to do our best and to do it now. Whether we have the muster, or the fabric, to do that is really the question at hand. Are we going to be brilliant and stellar, or are we going to miss the moment, the opportunity, the chance of a lifetime, and muff it? That is the question.

More context.

North Dakota is practically an island unto itself financially, as well as in many other regards. Oil has shored up our state’s economy like few ever imagined, and we remind you, it’s a one-time harvest. Most all of the other states are hemorrhaging from debt beyond their means, compounded further by commitments into the future to somehow or other pay for programs they can no longer afford. Nationally, the situation is almost worse. Bluntly put, we have a federal government heading toward bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, we spend and commit as if it is an endless supply of money coming our way in the future, as if money, instead of falling from trees, spewed forth voluminously forever and ever. Yes, we have it good now, but we need not overlook that North Dakota’s own cost of government has doubled in the past 10 years, yes doubled. And while lavishing in flush oil money, we line up at the trough for every federal government gimme program imaginable, wringing our hands and worrying if we will get our fair share, when truth is North Dakotans have gotten far more than our ‘fair share” for decades.

The moment is upon us. We are next on stage. It’s our chance to make or break it. And what are we going to do?

We say, ever so respectfully, it’s time to be brilliant. It’s time to bring our best thinking to the table and to affect change that is visionary, responsible, prudent and for the greater public good, for a long, long time into the future. If we are not brilliant, we’ve not done our best and our moment will have passed with mediocrity prevailing, with complacency winning out, with fear holding back courage and venture.

Many lawmakers and citizens look at this as something akin to manna from heaven, million dollar rains as farmers used to say. Then the next thought is, “gosh, gee, how are we going to spend this money?” Hence momentary hikes in state support for k-12 education, substantial hikes in higher ed, approaching 20 percent, proposals left and right—well, OK, the right or GOP is really running the state moment present—for spending here, spending there, spending instead of saving, instead of investing, instead of insuring a more secure future for next generations.

It’s an absolutely historic moment facing us here in North Dakota. Truly.
Were we smart, we’d treat our revenues from oil like gold. We’d guard it and steward it and thank our lucky stars we happen to have some security in this very troubled world. We are a big state with very few people, still fewer than 700,000. We produce food for multitudes. Food, mind you, will always be a currency of value and especially of the future. We have oil wells enriching us temporarily and only temporarily. We are a state envied by practically every state out there, when it comes to our economy.
No one party or leader delivered this to us. Oil did, and when it rained it poured. But there will be dryer days ahead. We know that from agriculture.

North Dakota needs a paradigm shift, or else we will simply get more of what we’ve always gotten, which for many translates into continually escalating local taxes, fees, assessments, until pockets of the ordinary person are empty, unless we are careful now and take most advantage possible of the moment present.

What will we do in Bismarck with $2 billion in oil revenues instead of $800 million just two years ago? Certainly, there are smart options and we do have some smart people here in our state. Let’s make it our best move ever. Let’s think out of the box. Let’s erase the slate and pretend we could start all over, and then see how fast things change and how wonderfully we transform things here at home.

The greater public good needs to be our mantra. In many respects, being debt free, having a secure future, lowered cost of living, higher and more livable wages, a savings account stocked full of gold and a rich history that includes a time back when, back in 2011, when our leadership truly led, when they took us someplace greater, when they looked and planned ahead, when they enshrined the notion that if ever there was anyone on the planet who does not need outsiders’ welfare sacrificed because we do just fine taking care of our own, it’s us here in North Dakota, thanks to their foresight and their brilliant moment on the stage when it was their turn.

We can do it now, we can do it together, and we can do it for a better future, or not. It’s really our choice, isn’t it? So let’s do it once, and let’s do it right. Let’s shoot for that perfect score of 10 because they’re calling us; our moment is now.

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