Lexington: America's welfare state

摘要

Never let anyone tell you there is nothing to do in Alaska during those long, dark winters. When the snow is deep, you can jump off the roof of your house into a drift. "It's like landing in a cloud," says David Pine, a local student. You can go crosscountry skiing on a floodlit trail around Anchorage-which becomes a cycle path in the summer. Alaskan licence-plates may growl that this is the "The Last Frontier", but urban areas—where four-fifths of Alaskans live-are amply stocked with espresso bars, broadband connections and all the comforts of modernity. Alaskans are, on average, slightly richer than Americans who live in the "lower 48" states. Yet they are wrapped in a thick mink coat of subsidies.