The Weekly Top 3

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of October 27, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why Legislators should ask those pushing for more spending to clarify at the same time how the proponents propose to pay for it(2:09); 2) we explain why one of the most prominent champions of PFD cut...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of October 20, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) following up on recent comments by House Speaker Bryce Edgmon about the situation in western Alaska, we ask whether it could be the final straw that breaks the PFD (2:18); 2) we use a recent op-ed from House Mi...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of October 13, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss EIA's most recent oil price forecast, why the oil futures market is starting to trend the same way, and what that means for Alaska's fiscal situation (2:12); 2) we explain how all of the enthusiasm o...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of October 6, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how the current candidates for Governor have lost sight of former Governor Jay Hammond's vision for Alaska that put Alaska families first (2:05); 2) we explain how some in the oil industry are trying...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of September 29, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss Alaska's K-shaped economy and how it helps explain outmigration (2:06); 2) we explain the parts of the story that the Permanent Fund Corp's claims about a "successful" FY25 ignore (18:11); and 3) w...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of September 22, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why we think the Alaska media has completely whiffed on this year's real PFD story (2:10); 2) we explain why the North Slope renaissance isn't producing the benefits for Alaskans they were led to e...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of September 15, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why a recent op-ed by Senator Cathy Giessel proposes to make Alaska's fiscal situation even worse than it already is (2:22); 2) we review recent data from the Department of Revenue that is telling...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of September 8, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss Sen. Robb Myers recent op-ed in the Alaska Landmine, which explains that the proposal to change the current two-account Permanent Fund system to a one-account system is really about protecing state...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of September 1, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain, using the Permanent Fund Corporation's own numbers, how its high-cost "active asset management" program is failing Alaskans by badly underperforming even its own Passive Index Benchmark (2:25); 2)...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of August 25, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss some recent comments by Speaker Edgmon about the economic strains being felt by Alaska's coastal communities and explain why, in certain real respects, they are being self-inflicted by the Legislature...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of August 18, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why the EIA's new oil price forecast suggests Alaska is on the precipice of slipping back into a steep, deficit-driven budgetary position for the remainder of FY26 and into FY27 (campaign year 2026) (...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of August 11, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) the Anchorage business community says they are concerned about the economy but at the same time they push the revenue option that has the "largest adverse impact" on it (2:15); 2) we explain why the next rounds...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of August 4, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how the votes on the veto override do much to explain the state's deep fiscal problems (2:15); 2) we discuss again, whether they realize it or not, how those advocating for a one-account Permanent Fund...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of July 28, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how a recent op-ed demonstrates why some legislators seem not to grasp how Alaska oil taxes work (2:15), 2) we explain why Sen. Shelley Hughes potentially has a significant leg up on fiscal issues over...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of July 21, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the significant state revenue downside of Conoco's - and others' - new exploration programs (2:07), 2) we explain, contrary to the hope of some, why the gas pipeline is not a "fix" to Alaska's broken fi...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of July 14, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) while the OBBA increases access to potential new oil fields on federal lands, we discuss whether it will actually result in new development and, more importantly, additional state revenues (2:17), 2) we discuss th...

The Weekly Top 3 (7.7.2025) by Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of June 30, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the hypocrisy of how Alaska leaders are governing at home compared to what they say at the national level (2:10 ); 2) we look at the actual returns the Permanent Fund Corporation is earning compared to...

The Weekly Top 3 (6.23.2025) by Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of June 16, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss where we believe oil prices are likely headed and how Alaska could reduce the fiscal roller coaster the state's current budget approach creates (2:09); 2) we discuss one issue that we believe should be...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of June 9, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the issues surrounding the state's threat to terminate the Cosmopolitan leases (2:01); 2) we explain why we believe a recent op-ed about state child care support fails to address the equally important qu...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of June 2, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why the Permanent Fund Corporation's April results demonstrate our point about its deficient returns (2:03); 2) in the wake of the visit from three of its cabinet officials, we examine the potential impa...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of May 26, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we walk through the sources and uses of funds in the FY26 budget, and examine who is bearing the burden created by using PFD cuts to provide nearly a third of the revenues (2:14); 2) we explain how a recent op-ed f...

The Weekly Top 3 (5.19.2024) by Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of May 12, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why Alaska's current fiscal dilemma reminds us of a game of chicken and what it will take to resolve it (2:04); 2) we discuss what role the Governor should play in resolving the dilemma and why Governor...