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 is duplicitous or just dumb when it comes to the Permanent Fund (18:56), and 3) we explain why, 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 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 which undermines what many think is Alaska’s “trickle down” economy — GDP growth followed by househ...
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 policy debate sounds a lot like two kids fighting: it’s your fault, no, it’s your fault (19:24); 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 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 first quarter investment returns and what they tell us about the Permanent Fund Corporation’s perf...
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 on Education Funding needs to address how they actually intend to FUND the increased spendin...
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 cuts is the very definition of hypocrisy (19:34); and 3) we discuss why, after taking some odd turns...
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 Minority Leader Mia Costello to demonstrate that it’s not just Ds that push spending without saying...
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 over the Ambler road and other new projects could end up causing even deeper PFD cuts (16:02); and...
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 to rewrite the history behind SB21 (21:21); and 3) we discuss how Governor Dunleavy is failing to...
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) we discuss why op-eds proposing new or continued spending should come with a fiscal note (38:23). ...
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 expect (16:31); and 3) we discuss what the termination of the Santos/ADNOC deal likely means for 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 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 us production taxes remain broken even well beyond the current 10-year revenue forecast (19:54); ...
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 protecting state revenues, not protecting the Permanent Fund (2:24); 2) we dive into the state’s new fiscal analy...
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) we explain why we applaud Senator Mike Cronk’s point that developing a successful K-12 funding pl...
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 (2:28); 2) we start a new, occasional series by explaining the “rest of the story” surrounding 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 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) (2:16); 2) we explain why the growing problem with Social Security is likely to have a significant...
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 of K-12 funding growth should come from increased local contribution (18:08); and 3) we explain 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 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 approach are pushing to create a back door into the Permenent Fund corpus (24:13); and 3) we ex...
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 issus over other candidates in the coming Governor’s race (20:49), and 3) we explain why we think, with one 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 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 financial foundation (17:37), and 3) we discuss how the OBBA may make state level K-12 funding issu...