It would be appreciated if the authors identified the base year and index they use to assert that government budget growth has exceeded inflation.  Additionally, they should address the fact that Alaska's health care costs per procedure are the highest of the nearly 300 cities monitored by the service used by the Anchorage Economic Development Corp.  For 2015 Anchorage was the 13th most expensive to live in.  Attributing the cost of government to just waste and  inefficiency overlooks the extent to which we are challenged by the size of the state and the lack of price competition due to our small population.  It also ignores any population increase over that period. In addition, what elements of that growth have been associated with the uneconomically supportable projects such as KABATA, the Juneau and Ambler access roads, etc.  I am sure that there are costs that could be reduced; I would start with legislative staff and address nepotism, necessity, and competency to start with.