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 December 15, 2025. For those who follow us, this is our last podcast for 2025. After taking a couple of weeks off for the holidays, we will return on January 6, 2026. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain what the Department of Revenue's Fall Revenue Fore...

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 December 8, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why neither the "fair share" nor "all we need is more development" sides of the oil tax debate is addressing the issue in the way the Constitution does and the Legislature should (2:15), 2) we discus...

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 December 1, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the significant uncertainty regarding oil price, and with that oil revenues, that the Legislature will face this coming session (2:10), 2) we explain why we have asked whether Lt. Governor Dahlstrom...

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 November 24, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we catch up on some recent developments affecting the Cook Inlet gas market (2:00), 2) we catch up also on some recent developments related to North Slope oil (21:54), and 3) we explain the fatal disconnect wh...

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 November 17, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss why revenues - where the money is supposed to come from - should be an equal part of the discussion of the Legislature's Task Force on Education Funding (2:15); 2) we explain why the Alaska fiscal p...

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 November 10, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain what, to us, seems missing so far from this year's Governor's race (2:02); 2) we explain what irritates us about how many in the Top20% support taxes (18:00); and 3) we review the Permanent Fund's 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 November 3, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss a stunner: how Alaska takes more as a share of income from its middle & lower-income families than California takes under its income tax from its billionaires (2:14); 2) we explain why the Task Force...

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...