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 April 14, 2025.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain the difference between an accounting balanced budget and a distributionally balanced budget and why the Legislature is continually failing to produce the latter (2:06); 2) we discuss former Sen. Joe Paskvan's excellent op-ed in a recent Fairbanks Daily News-Miner attacking the Permanent Fund Corporation's proposed backdoor raid on the Permanent Fund corpus (21:40); and 3) for those interested, we do a Michael Dukes Show "Finer Things" segment on my recent Ireland trip (38:01).

The Weekly Top 3 (4.14.2025)

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 April 21, 2025.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss what the latest projections from the Permanent Fund Corporation are telling us about where the Permanent Fund is headed on its current course (2:02); 2) we examine the opportunity to make some small headway in generating substitute revenues and reducing the need for PFD cuts (20:13); and 3) we explore some budget-related good news (40:56).

The Weekly Top 3 (4.21.2025)

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 May 5, 2025.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss what's going on with oil prices: what's driving the price drop, how low could they go and how long could the price drop last (2:17); 2) we discuss the failure of those who voted for HB 57 (the permanent K-12 funding increase) to realistically deal with a fundamental question: where's the money coming from and #WhoPays (18:56); and 3) we discuss a bill hovering over this session that, if passed, could make Alaska's future even worse from a fiscal perspective (40:35).

The Weekly Top 3 (5.5.2025)

The Weekly Top 3 (5.19.2024)

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 May 26, 2025.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we walk through the sources and uses of funds in the FY26 budget, and examine who is bearing the burden created by using PFD cuts to provide nearly a third of the revenues (2:14); 2) we explain how a recent op-ed from Anna MacKinnon on the Permanent Fund picks up from where she left off when she left the Senate: finding ways to fund spending while protecting the Top20% & #OilCos from paying for it (18:50); and 3) we discuss how we could avoid the Alaska budget being so impacted by swings in oil prices (36:39).

The Weekly Top 3 (5.26.2025)

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 30, 2025.

This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss the hypocrisy of how Alaska leaders are governing at home compared to what they say at the national level (2:10 ); 2) we look at the actual returns the Permanent Fund Corporation is earning compared to its own benchmarks and other alternatives, something the PFC seldom does in its op-eds and press releases (17:00); and 3) we explain why PFD cuts should be counted as "skin in the game" in the same way as taxes (36:28).

The Weekly Top 3 (6.30.2025)

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 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 why those pushing the "one account" approach to "protect" the Permanent Fund are, in fact, opening the door for raids on it (39:26).

The Weekly Top 3 (8.11.2025)

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 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 plan is contingent on first developing an overall, solid fiscal plan for the state (18:45); and 3) we explain how the recent op-ed's from gubernatorial candidates Click Bishop and Tom Begich blatantly ignore the central issue facing the next Governor: the huge and continuing current law budget deficits the state is projected to run over the next decade (37:12).

The Weekly Top 3 (9.1.2025)

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 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 protecing state revenues, not protecting the Permanent Fund (2:24); 2) we dive into the state's new fiscal analysis of the Pikka oil field and what the numbers are telling us about SB 21 (19:21); and 3) we explain how, by not looking at the numbers, Must Read Alaska is missing the big story behind the performance of the Permanent Fund Corporation (39:14).

New tracks tagged #alaska permanent fund