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 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 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 takeaway from the Fall Revenue Sources Book: while producers clearly are benefitting from SB 21, the statute is failing miserably to allocate a fair share of revenues to the state (19:48), and 3) we look at recent developments in the Cook Inlet, where Enstar is openly seeking a state subsidy to reduce its gas costs but Chugach Electic commendably is moving forward with market solutions (37:56).

And as befits an end-of-year show, after we finish those, Michael and I add one more segment to briefly summarize what we see as the biggest issue facing the state at the end of 2024 as we look ahead to the beginning and upcoming session of 2025 (55:35).

The Weekly Top 3 (12.16.2024)

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 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 recent analysis of Alaska's population, we look at IRS data to examine where the drain in Alaska's working age population is by income bracket (18:54), and 3) we explain why the energy "royalty relief" touted by some as a solution to the Cook Inlet gas situation is, in fact, an unnecessary subsidy being taken out of the pockets of middle & lower-income Alaska families statewide (37:52).

The Weekly Top 3 (1.13.2025)

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 is up to now in its ongoing efforts around Southcentral gas supplies (18:08), and 3) we discuss the selective political mutism of some when it comes time to address the adverse impact of PFD cuts on the economics of working-class Alaska families and even on Alaska entrepreneurship (38:44).

The Weekly Top 3 (1.20.2025)

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 rather than working to repair it, the Alaska House Majority is proposing to make it even deeper (16:53), and 3) we explain the real Permanent Fund crisis - the Permanent Fund Corporation is so mismanaging the Fund that it isn't earning enough even to cover the POMV draw (37:31).


The Weekly Top 3 (1.27.2025)

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 3, 2025.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) while some want to focus only on the short-term cost, we explain why, looking down the road, HB69 is really a $1 billion appropriation (2:13), 2) we explain why, with the legislature backing out of the Cook Inlet debate, it's now up to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to protect Alaska consumers (19:06), and 3) as the jockeying starts, we discuss what we think is the big thing on which potential candidates in the 2026 Governor's should be focusing on now (37:35).

The Weekly Top 3 (2.3.2025)

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 (19:02), and 3) we discuss the additional disclosure that we think all presentations and op-eds pushing for more state appropriations should contain (36:56).

The Weekly Top 3 (2.10.2025)

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 24, 2025.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain why the proposal to combine the Permanent Fund corpus and earnings reserve both puts the corpus at risk and undermines significant performance incentives for the Permanent Fund Corporation (2:14); 2) we explain how Rep. DeLena Johnson and other Republicans are ignoring important data to put the interests of the oil companies ahead of those of Alaska families (15:58); and 3) we explain why we aren't hearing much about Cook Inlet gas in this session (spoiler alert: it's because the market solved the problem) (28:08).

For your information, following this episode, we are taking a three-week break from the show to go on a tour of Ireland. We will return to our seat and be ready to go again on Tuesday, April 15.

The Weekly Top 3 (3.24.2025)

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 9, 2025.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the issues surrounding the state's threat to terminate the Cosmopolitan leases (2:01); 2) we explain why we believe a recent op-ed about state child care support fails to address the equally important question of #WhoPays for the support (19:29); and 3) we focus on why what didn't happen at Governor Dunleavy's sustainability conference is more important than what did (39:35).

New tracks tagged #Cook Inlet Gas