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 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’...

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 6, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we back into how much some are proposing to spend overall this coming fiscal year as the proposed spending increases and new programs start to pile up (2:08), 2) we put a proposed new constitutional amendment from...

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 February 27, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how Permanent Fund earnings are being shifted from mid & lower income #AKfams to the Top20% and why the amount is staggering (1:54), 2) we discuss how Rep. Zack Fields is proposing to shift even more...

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 February 20, 2023. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why, without a fiscal counterbalance, the push for more spending has become irresistible (1:58), 2) we discuss why the "Alaska model of bipartisanship" is just another version of the old, not so good...

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 February 13, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss something Larry Persily and the AK Policy Forum have in common - they both want to ignore the best fiscal alternative for Alaska families (2:04), 2) we explore why campaign finance reform doesn't see...

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 February 6, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) the hypocrisy of Alaska "moderates:" they want to be seen as moderate, but do it with someone else's money (2:10), 2) why, while the BLM's pending approval of Conoco's Willow project is an important thing from 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 January 30, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) how DOR’s analysis disproves the Governor’s most recent fiscal plan (2:04), 2) the critical fact that’s consistently missing from the press stories around the K-12 funding issue (13:22), and 3) how a recent Alas...

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 January 23, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) Ed King gets it right about the PFD (2:04), 2) the most interesting  - and potentially, hopeful -  thing to us about the new House organization (13:22), and 3) how Governor Dunleavy is trying to "levitate above"...

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 January 16, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) what we learned the first time through from reading LegFin's overview of the Gov's budget (2:02), 2) the thing that surprises us most about this session's pre-filed bills (22:33), and 3) why we question whether...

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 January 9, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the ADN editorial board's latest effort to lay a trap for the PFD (2:00), 2) we explain why the ADN news page is only reporting half the story on K-12 spending (18:23), and 3) we explain why - and how ...

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 January 2, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) we outline our initial take on the Gov's proposed FY24 budget & 10-year plan (1:58), 2) we discuss what we see ahead on fiscal issues in the upcoming legislative session (21:33), and 3) we explain our take away 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 December 12, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) what we'll be looking for in the Revenue F'cast, Gov's budget & 10-year plan due out this week (2:01), 2) our take on two recent op-eds in the ADN that argue Alaska should be "going big" on spending - but here'...

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 5, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) the missing question in all of the media stories on the need for additional K-12 spending (2:03), 2) the ADN editorial board says Alaskans need to tone down the rhetoric and seek compromise, then promptly ignore...

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 28, 2022. This week our top 3 issues are these: 1) what we expect this coming session from the new, bipartisan Senate majority (1:54), 2) what's going on with oil prices and what that likely means for this coming session (22:49), and 3) where Alaska's industria...