Alaskans for Sustainable Budget's "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 June 24, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why the Fairbanks Newsminer editorial board is hallucinating about the potential for a gas pipeline (2:10); 2) we discuss a subject on which we think Alaska's Congressional candidates should be focusing a lot more attention this election cycle (18:07); and 3) we note another nail in the coffin of Cook Inlet production and ask again why the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) isn't pushing the state's Southcentral utilities to develop a realistic way forward (37:19).

The Weekly Top 3 (6.24.2024)

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 1, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we examine the sum total of the Dunleavy budget legacy so far: spending growth, no fiscal plan and PFD cuts (2:00); 2) we explain how the Permanent Fund Corporation is trying to manipulate Alaskans and why it no longer can be trusted (18:08); and 3) we explain how the Hilcorp tax loophole keeps growing and what that means for the state (35:00).

The Weekly Top 3 (7.1.2024)

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 8, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss what the true "opportunity costs" are of PFDcuts (2:13); 2) we explain why assuming state revenues from oil follow oil production volumes is wrong (19:10); and 3) we explain why KTUU's recent "man on the street" question about the PFD is misleading (36:10). At the end of the third segment, Michael and I also have a brief discussion about the significance of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to abandon judicial deference to federal agency actions (a reversal of the so-called "Chevron doctrine").

The Weekly Top 3 (7.8.2024)

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 15, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) following up on last week's discussion, we keep digging into the problem with oil revenues (2:11); 2) we explain why it's deeply concerning that, while there's continued handwringing (and wild ideas), there is no apparent progress on Southcentral gas as we pass the end of the 2nd quarter (23:11); and 3) we discuss the Alaska anomaly of apparently low taxes but also significant outmigration of working age families (39:15).

The Weekly Top 3 (7.15.2024)

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 22, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how the term "surplus" has become another step in the Orwellianization of Alaska budget terms (2:05); 2) we discuss what is driving what some are now saying is the long-term outmigration of working Alaska families and why the Alaska "anomaly" isn't really an anomaly after all (20:09); and 3) we ask (and answer) whether the reappointment of Ethan Schutt to the Permanent Fund Board is a positive, negative, or a status quo development (38:04).

The Weekly Top 3 (7.22.2024)

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 29, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the movement we are (finally) seeing from Southcentral utilities on gas supplies (2:10); 2) we discuss another bad week for the Permanent Fund Board and how the new Chairman made the case even stronger for replacing and restructuring the Board (24:01); and 3) we explain why the new childcare (or any type of) tax credits are worse than subsidies (39:19).

The Weekly Top 3 (7.29.2024)

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 5, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how a recent ADN editorial board op-ed advocates for a fiscal future that, if successful, would largely undermine former Governor Jay Hammond's vision for Alaska (2:15); 2) we explain how the Permanent Fund Corp and others are manufacturing a fake earnings reserve crisis and why Alaska's press seems to be buying it hook, line & sinker (18:59); and 3) we explain why many of Alaska's so-called progressives are just the latest incarnation of the old Limousine Liberals (36:51).

The Weekly Top 3 (8.5.2024)

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 12, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss whether the Alaska economy is on an up- or down-swing (2:17); 2) we discuss the significance of global LNG supplier Excelerate's recent announcement that they are in advanced discussions to bring LNG to southcentral Alaska (19:43); and 3) we explain why we think the proposal to merge the two Permanent Fund accounts - the corpus and the earnings reserve - into a single account should become an election issue (36:17).

The Weekly Top 3 (8.12.2024)

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 19, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how, after draining the Statutory Budget Reserve, the Constitutional Budget Reserve and a large part of the PFD, some are positioning to come after the Permanent Fund corpus (2:19); 2) we discuss what the Alaska oil & gas industry is NOT telling Alaskans about the next ten years (17:30); and 3) we explain why, while they make claims that they are, those pushing for increased K-12 spending really don't care about middle and lower-income Alaska families (36:26).

The Weekly Top 3 (8.19.2024)

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 26, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss our take on the results for various legislative races from the primary election and what we see as the path forward (2:33); 2) we discuss the effort by some to combine what we view as two entirely separate issues related to the Permanent Fund: whether the Permanent Fund Board should be reformed (which we strongly agree with), and whether the two-account Permanent Fund structure should be merged into a single account (which we strongly disagree with) (20:25); and 3) we discuss how a recent letter to the editor from Keep Alaska Competitive co-chairs Joe Shierhorn and Jim Jansen dodges a critical fact about oil taxes (38:18).

In addition, we include a brief discussion Michael and I had about the proposals by some to return state employees to a defined benefit pension plan (47:10).

The Weekly Top 3 (8.26.2024)

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 2, 2024.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how some legislative candidates have become so focused on being pro-oil that they have lost focus on being pro-Alaskan (2:15); 2) on the opposite end of the political spectrum, we explain how some so-called progressive candidates have become so focused on increasing government spending they are pushing revenue approaches that hurt the very working Alaska families they claim to be protecting (18:19); and 3) we explain how those pushing Cook Inlet gas are increasingly ignoring market reality and, in the process, looking more and more like those who pushed the Alaska barley and dairy projects of the late 1970s and 1980s (36:31).

The Weekly Top 3 (9.2.2024)

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 what some think, concludes it's actually upper-income Alaska families who splurge most at PFD time (19:56); and 3) we discuss the role that fiscal policy can and should play in responding to Alaska's working-age migration issue (38:11).

The Weekly Top 3 (9.9.2024)

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 attempt to maintain control over who benefits from — and who pays the bill for — government spending (19:32); and 3) we discuss the ongoing effort by some to Orwellianize the PFD by changing the words they use to describe it to camouflage their inability to change the underlying statute (35:13).

The Weekly Top 3 (9.16.2024)

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 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 cut and the impact of the Legislature’s not-so-secret revenue approach of “the less you make, the more we take” (19:20); and 3) we explain why if Larry Persilly is genuinely concerned about “tax unfairness” he should focus even more on the Legislature than he has the Governor (37:14).

The Weekly Top 3 (9.23.2024)

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 many pushing for increased K-12 spending (18:25); and 3) we explain how Jesse Bjorkman has become so desperate to avoid defending his own record, he's taken to lying about others (36:48).

The Weekly Top 3 (9.30.2024)

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 the state backward economically (17:29); and 3) we discuss the message being sent by some shifts in ownership of North Slope oil assets (37:39).

The Weekly Top 3 (10.7.2024)

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 beginning to feel like "deja vu all over again" on the K-12 debate (17:28); and 3) Michael and I have an extended discussion on the issue of federal tax cuts, which is coming back around again for discussion with the coming expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (38:08).

The Weekly Top 3 (10.14.2024)

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 hypocritical in not applying a similar standard to the state budget (17:28), and 3) some interesting developments in both the Kenai and Fairbanks legislative races and why we think they are significant (38:08).

The Weekly Top 3 (10.21.2024)

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 Alaska economy are in fact doing the reverse - undermining Alaska families and economy - when it comes to the revenue side (12:25), and 3) we explain the irony of Governor Dunleavy and others pushing for AIDEA to spend even more on - let's be honest, useless - ANWR leases (34:14).

The Weekly Top 3 (10.28.2024)

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 explain why Jake Metcalfe's recent op-ed has it exactly backward: it's the current use of PFD cuts to fund government that puts the fiscal burden onto the backs of working Alaska families; by massively broadening the base, Ben Carpenter's proposal would reduce it significantly (17:13), and 3) we explain why, one way or the other, the coming Legislature will have to deal with campaign finance reforms, and our view on what they should do when they confront it (34:56).

Alaskans for Sustainable Budget's "The Weekly Top 3"

Brad Keithley