The Weekly Top 3

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of July 8, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: 1) where are the Governor and legislature likely to be by this time next week (at 1:45); 2) we discuss the huge inconsistency in the economic arguments some are making -- they are concerned about state jobs, except when they have to help pay for them, then...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of July 1, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: 1) the Governor's vetoes and how they play out from here (at 1:37); 2) we need to be honest with ourselves, someone is going to be taxed; we need to be talking about who (19:10); and 3) the @UA_System needs to start thinking ahead, after it fails to land i...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of June 24, 2019. This week's podcast is a bit of a wild one. Before turning to the Top 3, we start with a discussion of the Legislative "leadership's" decision to reject the Governor's call for the special session to be held in Wasilla -- an issue that arose Monday (at 1:55). Once we exhaust that topic...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of June 17, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: 1) as we sit in a (brief) eye of the state's fiscal hurricane -- what's coming next (at 1:50), 2) at the end of this someone is going to pay taxes - the only question is who (20:25), and 3) what we should know as we head toward the next federal fiscal cri...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of June 10, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: 1) our thoughts on where we go from here on the #AKbudget (a 60-day budget to give the #akleg time to finish their job) (at 3:47); 2) why the Congressional tool of "Continuing Resolutions" has become relevant to the #AKbudget (13:13), and 3) our thoughts...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of June 3, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: 1) our thoughts on SB 1002, the Senate's new PFD bill (at 1:48); 2) we discuss the downright, "let them eat cake" attitude many Senate R's are taking about paying a full PFD (18:15); and 3) the latest, significantly downward movements in oil prices (23:40)...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of May 27, 2019. This week our Top 3 turned into 4: 1) why the #akleg’s current efforts to change the PFD is just spinning its wheels (at 2:04), 2) we believe the Governor SHOULD be calling out individual legislators (16:24), 3) a substantial transfer from the earnings reserve account to the Permanent F...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of May 20, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) is the #akleg likely to approve a full PFD, and if so, where do things go from there (at 1:55), 2) how deep should vetoes go this year - "glide path" or "rip off the band aid" (19:55), and 3) yes, the state has other fiscal reserves, but should t...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of May 13, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) what is happening with the Conference Committee on the budget and where we are headed after it finishes its work (at 1:49), 2) a News-Miner op-ed editorializes on courage, yet shows none itself (22:52), and 3) we discuss a Rasmuson Board op-ed in...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of May 6, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) the question those urging restored spending -- such as doctors and university supporters, to pick a couple that have made the papers in recent days -- should be asked (at 1:51), 2) how so-called conservative Sen. Chris Birch is urging his fellow l...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of April 29, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) the Senate Finance Committee's adoption last Friday of a $3000 PFD for this year (at 1:50), 2) the huge significance of the Senate Finance Committee's simultaneously proposed move of $12B from the Permanent Fund earnings reserve to the Permanen...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of April 22, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) early in the session, the House and Senate scolded the Dunleavy Admin for not doing its homework, but now, both bodies are doing the same thing (at 1:47); 2) the long-awaited Buckeye Institute Report, which the Administration touted in its 10-y...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of April 15, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) why the state's current budget process doesn't achieve the needed goal of balancing "what we want" with "what we are willing to pay" (at 1:46); 2) we count the number of PFD "plans" circulating in various parts of the legislature -- we are up t...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of April 8, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) the House Finance Committee's proposed budget and things to watch as it moves to the floor (at 1:38), 2) why both SJR6, the Governor's proposed spending cap, and the Senate Finance Committee's version of the same, are ineffective as written, and...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of April 1, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) why some in the #akleg keep pressing for PFDcuts even when other options are better, for the overall Alaska economy and Alaska families (at 1:46), 2) the concerns we have about raising oil taxes (at 21:27), and 3) why think changes are needed to...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of March 25, 2019. This week we only covered the first two of our Top 3 before running out of time: 1) the false choice the Alaska House Majority is pushing between spending cuts and PFD cuts -- there are other options that are better for most Alaskans which the House steadfastly is refusing to discuss...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of March 18, 2019. This week we start with a brief discussion of the controversy surrounding the treatment of the Governor's proposed budget earlier this week in a House Finance Education Subcommittee hearing (at 2:05). Then we turn to our Top 3: 1) an update of our 10-yr outlook to reflect the Administ...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of March 11, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) the hypocrisy of Win Gruening (and many others in Alaska's Top 20%)(at 1:38), 2) why last week's SFIN ISER hearing was hugely misleading (9:59), and 3) Tax Policy 101: "It's all about the bas(e)" (22:12).

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of March 4, 2019. This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) we walk through a spreadsheet that explains why Governor Mike Dunleavy is doing what he's doing on the budget (at 2:26), 2) we discuss why we believe a #FlatTax is better than PFD cuts & other options (20:01), and 3) before we go too far down th...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of February 25, 2019. This week the first two of our Top 3 are focused on the big things missing so far from this year's budget discussion: 1) a 10-year outlook, which is critical to enabling us to understand the longer term concerns facing us and the options available to us (at 1:53), and 2) a discussi...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of February 18, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: 1) our initial take on Governor Mike Dunleavy's proposed budget (at 1:45), 2) once the smoke clears, what we think the ultimate answer is to the state's fiscal situation (12:24), and 3) no, oil producers aren't receiving "$1.9B in unnecessary subsidie...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of February 11, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: 1) our view of what to expect from Governor Dunleavy's budget and, as importantly, where the #akleg goes from there (at 1:40), 2) why cuts to the University budget are inevitable and completely reasonable (11:02), and 3) the question isn't if there's...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of February 4, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: 1) Governor Dunleavy's proposed Constitutional Amendments need some work (at 2:04), 2) a Twitter exchange reveals a critical disconnect in the PFD debate (17:00), and 3) what Governor Dunleavy's proposed Supplemental Budget rollback tells us about the...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of January 28, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: (1) What is the dispute between the Dunleavy Administration and the Legislature's Leg Finance Division over so-called "designated" general funds really about (at 2:12), (2) is the end of Alaska's recession really on its way as some economists predict -...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of January 21, 2019. This week our Top 3 are these: (1) Governor Mike Dunleavy's proposed "payback" of past PFD cuts (and why we oppose) (at 1:41), (2) But why we believe preserving future #PFD's is critical (18:37), and (3) a quick primer on a #FlatTax, what we think is a better alternative going forwa...