Print Column: Stockpiling Other People’s Money Is a Lousy Goal for the Government
MINOT, N.D.—In 2009 the North Dakota Legislature passed a constitutional amendment to create a fund out of a portion of taxes on oil and gas development.
It was approved by the voters, as all constitutional amendments in our state must be, in the 2010 election.
Today what is now called the Legacy Fund has a balance of going on $5 billion and is widely praised by newspaper editors and politicians and gadflies from around the state as one of the wisest policy moves our state has made in decades.
Yet, to this date, nobody has really figured out what we’re supposed to be doing with all this money.
