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 September 4, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) to provide context, we add some of the other things that should be considered when discussing the impact that the oil industry has on the Alaska economy (1:58); 2) we discuss what's missing from yet another leg...

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 28, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the recent push to make subsidies for childcare yet another "must have" state program (2:02); 2) we discuss the recent wholesale change out by the Dunleavy Administration of all of the key players on f...

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 21, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss Sen. Bert Stedman's bootstrapped and other fiscal red herrings he discussed in a recent radio interview (2:01); 2) we explain the problem with former Sen. Joe Paskavan's & others' "single focus" fiscal...

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 14, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the Dunleavy Administration's apparent, and to us, disappointing decision not to call a special session on fiscal issues this Fall(1:57); 2) we discuss the Kabuki theater that various sides are making...

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 7, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how PFDcuts have been used to buy the state's new higher bond rating, in other words, how it has been built on the back of middle & lower income Alaska families (2:03); 2) we discuss why it's significan...

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 31, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) using a recent letter to the editor by former ISER head Gunnar Knapp as a take-off point, we look at the various Alaska disconnects - and there are several (2:05); 2) we discuss the potential impact of a broadening...

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 24, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) our periodic update on how oil prices and production are doing — this time as we start the new fiscal year — and what that might mean if the trends continue as the fiscal year plays out (2:06); 2) the $8 billion 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 July 17, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) why we think the Permanent Fund Corporation is being Chicken Little about the level of the earnings reserve account (2:02); 2) the elephant in the fiscal room that others are ignoring - who should pay for K-12 and...

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 10, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) why we are concerned that Commissioner Adam Crum is politicizing the Department of Revenue's oil & gas tax function (1:58); 2) where we think Alaska Policy Forum has gone badly wrong in its assessment of this year'...

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 26, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) the argument that's missing from the PFD discussions, even from its defenders (1:56); 2) some recent insight into what the budget issues are likely to be in the next #akleg session (19:52); and 3) a recent developm...

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 19, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) why the real mega-dividends being distributed from Permanent Fund earnings are far different - and far bigger - than most think (2:17); 2) why our initial reaction to the Dunleavy veto message isn't very positive (...

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 12, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) as we potentially face another, how Alaska can - and should - control the impact of oil price cycles on the state budget (2:17); 2) why we support a new ballot measure designed to impose campaign contribution limit...

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 5, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) the #BigLie the Top20% keep spreading about the impact of various fiscal options on Alaska families and the economy (2:09); 2) what the Governor could do in handling the FY24 budget that would help protect the PFD a...

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 29, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) the ADN editorial board (aka, the Binkley Family Blog)’s latest attempt to set up a kill shot on the PFD (2:00); 2) how the #akleg has created an issue with the Permanent Fund (and what it can do to avoid it) (13:04...

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 15, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) the one constant in this year's budget (spoiler alert: it's "spend, but don't tax me, don't tax you, tax middle & lower income Alaska families instead …")(2:11); 2) how the ADN editorial board (what we sometimes ref...

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 15, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) why the House should decline to concur with the Senate's budget and what the Governor should include in the resulting special session call (2:03); 2) where the legislature, and specifically, the House Majority, need...

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 8, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) why, as we follow the news on Alaska fiscal policy, we are continually reminded of Samuel Becket's play, "Waiting for Godot," (2:10); 2) why, as we read the op-ed pages and even see Facebook ads, we are reminded of f...

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 1, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) Gov Dunleavy sets the right goal, but will he follow it up with the right proposal (2:09); 2) what do Carl Marrs and the other Top 20% really have in mind for Alaska (20:25); and 3) the critical question about Alaska...

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 April 24, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) in a recent op-ed, the Binkley family - the owners of the ADN - make clear that while they support govt spending, they want other people to pay for it while they avoid (2:09); 2) the Senate Finance Committee is se...

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 April 17, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) why we believe some don't comprehend the depth of Alaska's fiscal hole (2:01); 2) now that the House has passed its version, the dynamics at work in finalizing this year's budget (28:28); and 3) why Sen. Stedman's...

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 April 10, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) why the House budget debate last week reminded us a lot of the old Jody Foster body swap film Freaky Friday (2:03); 2) why a recent op-ed by ISER economist Matt Berman hits the nail on the head about the regressiv...

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 April 3, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) the positive impact Rep. Ben Carpenter's proposed sales tax is having on the conversation about an Alaska fiscal solution (2:16); 2) how a vote yesterday on the House floor on the proposed budget serves to hilite t...

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 March 27, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) while the legislature has started to intensify the fiscal debate after the Spring Revenue Forecast, their focus thus far remains on continued spending and protecting the Top20% from paying for it (2:04), 2) the wi...

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 March 20, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) the critical facts that Alaska media continually leave out of their coverage of the PFD (2:01), 2) the growing disconnect in how the legislature is approaching Alaska’s fiscal situation this session (15:28), and 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 March 13, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we look at what the Spring Revenue Forecast, due out this week, is likely going to tell us about the state’s current and future fiscal situation (2:04), 2) now that the Willow decision is in hand, we look at what’...