Actually, Mr. Edge, I am NOT receiving social security.  I wanted to be independent enough to earn my own money.  Unfortunately, the injury that these "lawyers" said would not impact my capability of earning a living were wrong.  Now what?  Apparently, I should have conformed to the system and applied for social security.  I did not.  Now they get to keep every dime I paid into social security for most of my life.  (Ooops on my part for not conforming.)  

That's just my personal life.  I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of people who could use that PFD that didn't equate to the selfish smatterings I've seen in a couple of the comments so far.  IOW, *yes*, many Alaskans do count on those PFDs.  

And let's not fail to mention its other benefits to society as a whole ....