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 March 17, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how the Permanent Fund Corporation is leaving substantial amounts of money on the table (1:59); 2) we look at what both the left and right are missing about the Hilcorp loophole (19:54); and 3) we disc...

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 10, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we review a recent, balanced look by the Alaska Beacon’s James Brooks at Alaska’s budget situation and the battle over #WhoPays (2:03); 2) we discuss the full on raid on the Permanent Fund corpus by the Senate Ma...

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 3, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why we believe Alaska oil tax reform is not only justified, but needed (2:06); 2) we discuss the fiscal irresponsibility of how both increased K-12 spending as well as defined benefits are being pursued...

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 24, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the Senate Finance Committee’s proposed SB109, which, if enacted, would be the largest permanent individual tax increase in Alaska’s history (2:09); 2) we explain why the source of the state’s fisca...

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 17, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the needed conversation about Alaska’s fiscal situation that the Senate Majority and Senator Yundt from the minority have started (2:08); 2) we explain why the Permanent Fund's failed investmen...

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 10, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain what a difference a week made as we sort through recent developments on the Cook Inlet import projects (2:04), 2) we discuss our thoughts on President Trump's comments on Japan and #AKLNG (19:0...

Looking down the road, HB69 has a $1bn price tag; with the #akleg backing out of the Cook Inlet, it’s now up to the RCA to protect Alaskans & what the 2026 #AKgov candidates need to start focusing on now The Weekly Top 3 is a regular weekly segment on The Michael Dukes Show . The Show broadcasts on Facebook and YouTubeLive as well as via streaming audio from the Show’s website weekdays from 6–...

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 27, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) Senator Dunbar asks the right question about ENSTAR’s most recent Cook Inlet proposal, and by the way, where are Chugach, MEA … and Marathon (2:11), 2) Alaska is already sitting in a massive fiscal hole, but ra...

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 20, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss what Legislative Finance's "Overview of the Governor's Budget" says about the financial situation the Legislature is facing this coming year (2:14), 2) we ask what the heck Enstar...

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 13, 2025. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss whether the legislature should fund the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation’s “Hail Mary” to keep the #AKLNG project alive for yet another year (2:20), 2) to complement the Department of Labor’s r...

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 6, 2025, our first of the new year. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we examine the effort by some, rather than focus on the endless string of deficits he is leaving behind, to reshape the “Dunleavy legacy” into one of even greater government spending (...

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 16, 2024, our last show of 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why, by completely ignoring an important statute, Dunleavy is failing in his responsibility to “protect the economic stability of the state” (2:25), 2) we discuss our big take...

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 2, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why the “simple answer” some claim solves Alaska’s outmigration issue is, in fact, a significant reason we are in a death spiral in the first place (2:17), 2) we explain why the Alaska LNG Phase I pr...

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 2, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the outlook for the state’s fiscal situation that likely will be reflected in the upcoming fall 10-year revenue forecast and budget plan (2:07), 2) in light of the likely severe fiscal restraints the...

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 18, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss what Alaskans realistically should expect from the Trump Administration on resource development (2:07), 2) we discuss the coming legislative budget cycle and, based on the current oil outlook, 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 November 11, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why we characterize the new House Coalition as a “bipartisan plutocracy” — government by the wealthy for the wealthy (2:11), 2) we explain why President Trump’s recent video hasn’t changed our skept...

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 4, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we ask whether the four business leaders writing a recent op-ed claiming that SB21 in its current form is still working for Alaska families even looked at the data first (spoiler alert: it’s not) (2:31), 2) we...

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 28, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the broader implications of a recent op-ed in the ADN about the impact of government picking winners and losers (2:06), 2) we explain why those claiming to be “fighting for” Alaska families and the 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 October 21, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) whether the Governor’s focus on data centers is a last-minute Hail Mary in support of the AKLNG project and, if so, whether its a good one (2:14), 2) Larry Persily’s most recent column and why we think it’s hyp...

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 14, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the question legislators don’t want constituents to ask: is the legislator willing to put their own money where their mouth is (2:14); 2) we explain why, to quote the late Yogi Berra, it's begin...

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 7, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how Republican legislative candidates have hamstrung themselves this election cycle (2:05); 2) we discuss how those candidates who continue to press for Cook Inlet gas subsidies are proposing to set 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 September 30, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how those justifying PFD cuts on the basis it's "free money" in reality are just trying to direct it into their pockets instead (2:06); 2) we explain the fundamental hypocrisy of man...

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 23, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how the data demonstrates the real driver of Alaska outmigration is faltering Alaska household income, which increased spending using PFD cuts only makes worse (2:14); 2) we look at this year’s PFD...

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 16, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we look into the numbers behind the latest #AKLNG proposal and explain why they raise more questions than they answer (2:15); 2) we discuss the arguments the Big Government Republicans are using in their atte...

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 9, 2024. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain our frustration with the Governor’s veto of the proposed rental car tax in the face of the state’s ongoing $1.5 billion annual budget deficits (2:10); 2) we discuss some research that, contrary to w...