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 October 8, 2018. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) our view of “the elephant in the room”: the single most important fiscal issue this year that none of the candidates are talking about (at 3:20); (2) Gov. Walker’s former DOR Comm’r calls out opponents for lack of truth, but then avoids the h...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of October 1, 2018. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) does the Alaska budget "balance without taxes" at $80 oil (hint: not even close) (at 2:34), (2) just when we need them most the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation Board starts down a very, very dark road (15:40), and (3) in DC, the House (with...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of September 24, 2018. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) we agree with an Anchorage Daily News editorial that argues Alaska's "toughest budget choices are yet to come" (at 2:37), (2) we take a look at what's happening with oil prices; are they sustainable and what do they mean for the #AKbudget...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of September 17, 2018. This week our Top 3 issues are these: * First, as the candidates start settling into their campaign fiscal positions we examine what they are (at 2:26), * Second, we look at the question of how much did the #AKleg really approve in spending last session and what does FY 2020 look...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of September 10, 2018. This week’s show is a deep dive into both federal and state fiscal issues. Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget joins Michael in the first segment (at 2:09) to talk about federal fiscal issues. Then we join in the second (at 33:22) to focus on state is...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of September 3, 2018. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1)we explain why we believe the sustainable budget number is significantly lower than the $4.3B level Mike Dunleavy recently has been using (at 2:38), (2)we analyze a new ad by Governor Walker's campaign that claims he had to cut the PFD to cr...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of August 27, 2018. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) why we believe Walker's labor endorsements actually strengthen Mark Begich's messaging (at 2:30), (2) a fairly deep look at the strengths and weaknesses of the fiscal positions taken by each of the three remaining candidates for #AKgov (11:50...

This week in addition to our regular discussion of our Top 3 issues on the Tuesday morning Michael Dukes Show, we also did an abbreviated version with Michael, with a twist, as he sat in as guest host during the afternoon on The Dave Stieren Show. The twist is that at the end of the discussion Michael raised a fourth issue, based on a piece appearing that morning on the Alaska Public Radio Network...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of August 20, 2018. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) our final thoughts on the primary and the issues we see emerging for the general (at 4:30), (2) our first thoughts on oil taxes (which we anticipate will emerge as an important topic this fall) (16:55), and(3) Sen Dan Sullivan argued that the...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of August 13, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) our look at whether, as some claim, Alaska has settled into a "new economic normal" (at 4:20), (2) as the timetable for #AKLNG slips away, what remains of Gov Walker's vision for a second term (13:20), and (3) our final, pre-primary wrap up of t...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of August 6, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) what the real PFD number would have been had the legislature followed the statute (hint, its over $3000)(at 2:05), (2) our take on Mark Begich's evolving PFD plan (21:32), and (3) our problems with Mead Treadwell's economic plan (37:00).

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of July 30, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) The coming fiscal tsunami facing state & local governments across the nation, including Alaska (& why HB 331 -- the oil credit bonding bill -- is part of Alaska's share of the problem)(at 2:30), (2) our view on whether the Alaska economy is gettin...

The outtakes dealing with Alaska fiscal policy from our day hosting the Tom Anderson Show: (1) Why we haven't cut the #AKbudget more (at 0:48); (2) the #akleg's use of #CreditCard fiscal policy (8:05); (3) our view of the state of the #AKecon (10:24); and (4) our view of where we are headed this #akelect cycle (12:20).

During our day guest hosting the Tom Anderson Show we talk to Craig Medred from craigmedred.com about the quality of the reporting during this year's Alaska election cycle.

During our day guest hosting the Tom Anderson Show we talk to Craig Medred from craigmedred.com about this year's fishing runs, and how the politics of fish may affect this year's Governor's race.

During our day guest hosting the Tom Anderson Show we talk to Maya MacGuineas, the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (#BudgetHawks)about the current federal fiscal situation, the status of Social Security and ways that Alaskans can be involved in finding solutions.

During our day guest hosting the Tom Anderson Show we talk to Cody Rice from global oil & gas consulting group Wood Mackenzie about the current global LNG market and #AKLNG's place in it.

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of July 23, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) why there is a difference between "Alaska First" (Gov. Walker's campaign theme) and AlaskaNS First, and why that difference is important (at 3:17); (2) are we on track, as Mike Dunleavy claims in a recent op-ed, for a "new legislature, which will...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of July 16, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) Our reaction to a recent op-ed from Gov Walker attempting to excuse his unilateral 2016 #PFDcut (and some follow up with Michael about our current view of the Governor's race) (at 2:45); (2) why HB331 (the #OilCredit bailout bill) sets a dangerous...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of July 9, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1)Alaska Public Media swallows #AKGov Walker's campaign theme hook, line & sinker (at 2:10); (2) why we need to revamp the state gov'ts approach to budgeting (20:55), and (3) what we are looking for during this week's hearings on #AKLNG (40:18).

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of July 2, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week our Top 3 issues are these: (1) this year's overriding #akelect issue at both state & fed levels (at 2:35); (2) is the #OilCredit bond bailout (HB 331) justified because, as some claim, it "creates jobs" (16:50); and (3) do we need (or more importantly, can we afford) another fed...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of June 25, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week we turn our focus to the issues we believe will be important in this year's election cycle. We start with these three: (1) why we think the PFD is an important issue in individual #akleg races (at 3:05), (2) why we think the federal deficit is a real issue in Don Young's race (2...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of June 18, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week we focus on (1) What is a "shadow deficit" and why we should be concerned about it (2:45), (2) why George Orwell's book, "1984," is relevant to this year's Alaska election (20:10), and (3) what the employment numbers are telling us about the #AKecon (38:00).

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of June 11, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week we focus on (1) whether the #AKGov candidates are talking about the right issues (at 5:10), (2) the 3% carve out from ANWR revenues proposed by the AK Congressional delegation for Alaska's regional native corporations (at 25:20), and (3) in a federal fiscal moment, why Social Se...

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 for the week of June 4, 2018, our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week. This week we focus on (1) our first take on the candidates in this coming #akelect cycle (at 2:40), (2) a deeper look at one of the "winners" and the resulting losers this past #akleg session (at 24:00), and (3) what did we learn about the #AKLNG project from the #AKGov Walker's China trip...