Wrangell Sentinel -

The Alaska Legislature is no different than a typical American household – torn between spending every last dollar from their paycheck on immediate wants or saving some for the inevitable future needs.

When the wants win out, money often is short for the needs that come later.

That pretty much sums up this year’s political battle over the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend.

The bipartisan Senate favored an affordable PFD that would not require drawing from savings; the House Republican-led majority wanted to take hundreds of millions of dollars from savings to make this year’s PFD larger —...